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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Indian students strike gold

Mumbai: India’s brightest young scientific minds have once again proven their mettle on the global stage, securing exceptional medal hauls at two of the world’s most prestigious science competitions for secondary school students. Showcasing unprecedented academic prowess, the Indian delegation brought home a historic all-gold sweep at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad in Uzbekistan, alongside an impressive haul of one gold and three silver medals at the 37th International Biology...

Indian students strike gold

Mumbai: India’s brightest young scientific minds have once again proven their mettle on the global stage, securing exceptional medal hauls at two of the world’s most prestigious science competitions for secondary school students. Showcasing unprecedented academic prowess, the Indian delegation brought home a historic all-gold sweep at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad in Uzbekistan, alongside an impressive haul of one gold and three silver medals at the 37th International Biology Olympiad in Lithuania. These stellar performances cement India’s position as a powerhouse of STEM talent, reflecting the rigorous training and dedication cultivated by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) and a nationwide network of educators, said national coordinator of Science Olympiads Prof. Anwesh Mazumdar. In a landmark achievement, all four students representing India at the International Chemistry Olympiad, held in Tashkent from July 10 to 19, bagged gold medals. This marks India’s first-ever all-gold sweep in the history of the competition. The victorious quartet includes Debadatta Priyadarshi from Bhubaneswar, Harshit Singla from Mandi Gobindgarh, Kabeer Chillar from Delhi, and Sandeep Kuchi from Hyderabad. This year’s event was the largest to date, featuring 363 students from 93 countries. India’s flawless performance tied the nation for the top spot in the country-wise medals tally, sharing the first position with China, Vietnam, and an individual participant from Russia. The students navigated highly complex experimental and theoretical tasks, including decoding the composition of historical and natural artifacts, calculating the mass of uranium used in a 1966 detonation, and performing advanced pH-metric titrations. The team was guided by Head Mentor Professor Subhajit Bandyopadhyay, Mentor Dr. Indrani Sen, and Scientific Observers Dr. Anubendu Adhikary and Dr. Jayasree Gopalakrishnan. Running concurrently in Vilnius from July 12 to 19, the International Biology Olympiad saw the Indian team secure one gold and three silver medals against a highly competitive field of 307 students from 78 nations. Bhavyaa Gunwal from Mahendragarh clinched the gold medal, while Soumil Maity from Howrah, Nishit Kalani from Pali, and Anmol Kumar from Mansa each brought home silver. The biology competition pushed the boundaries of secondary education with a gruelling six-hour theoretical exam and an intensive six-hour practical laboratory test designed by the Vilnius University Life Sciences Centre. In the labs, students executed complex molecular biology tasks like restriction digestion, evaluated the pharmacokinetics of aspirin, performed precise insect morphology dissections, and utilized cutting-edge digital software for plant transcriptome analysis. The delegation was led by Professor Rekha Vartak and Dr. Anupama Ronad, alongside Scientific Observers Dr. Ranjithsinh Devkar and Dr. Siddhesh Ghag.

DGCA orders special audit of aircraft owner

Mumbai: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has commenced a Special Audit of VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd – which owned the ill-fate Learjet 45 aircraft that crashed in Baramati on Jan. 28, killing Deputy Chief Minister Ajit A. Pawar and others.

 

The Special Audit, ordered by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) started on Feb. 4, and is likely to be completed shortly. The DGCA said it would release the Preliminary Report of the air-crash within 30 days of the occurrence (by Feb. 28), as per ICAO norms, and the Final Report will follow in due course.

 

The DGCA team will conduct a comprehensive review of the regulatory compliances, operational control systems, maintenance practices, crew training standards, safety management systems and monitoring of the Black Box.

 

Rohit Pawar vindicated

The move comes as a victory for Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar, who had launched a massive campaign raising suspicions on the crash, questioning if it was an accident or a conspiracy, demanding grounding of the VSRVPL fleet and removal of MoCA Minister K. Rammohan Naidu till the investigations are completed.

 

Subsequently, many other leaders of various parties including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) headed by the late Ajit Pawar, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), besides members of the Pawar clan also joined the clamour for a transparent probe.

 

The MoCA said that the findings of the Special Audit, due to end soon, would be reviewed and necessary action shall be initiated in accordance with the DGCA’s Enforcement Policy and Procedures Manual.

 

Audit of other operators

Besides, multiple surveillance of VSRVPL were carried out across areas such as flight safety systems, flight duty time limitations, maintenance compliance (CAR M and CAR 145), documentation and station facilities, which were addressed and closed.

 

Now, the MoCA has directed the aviation watchdog to carry out special audits of other major non-scheduled operators and aerodromes engaged in VIP|VVIP operations.

 

“These audits are being conducted in phases and appropriate enforcement action will be taken wherever required. During 2025, the DGCA conducted 51 regulatory audits of non-scheduled operators,” said the MoCA.

 

On the ill-fated Learjet 45 (VT-SSK), the government said that the Baramati accident is being probed by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) strictly in accordance with the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2025 and the Standards and Recommended Practices contained (SARP) in ICAO Annex 13.

 

Rohit Pawar had voiced apprehensions on these aspects and sought to know how the company was allowed to continue operations in India when it had been banned in Europe in the past.

 

Two recorders on Learjet 45 Black Box

The aircraft – with five on-board - was equipped with two independent flight recorders, the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), manufactured by L3 Communications, which has been successfully downloaded at AAIB’s facility in New Delhi, inaugurated in 2025.

 

The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) sustained thermal damage. As it is manufactured by Honeywell, USA, technical assistance has been sought from the State of Design/Manufacture.

 

However, there are few takers for the theory of damage to the CVR, which - as Rohit Pawar pointed out several times - can withstand temperatures of around1100 C.

 

The MoCA said that the AAIB’s investigation is technical and evidence-based, involving systematic examination of wreckage, operational and maintenance records and laboratory testing of components where required.

 


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