In Brief – August 2016
The National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) have signed a partnership with ALISON to offer free online learning through a new website, www.indiaskillsonline.com, as part of the Indian Government’s ‘Skills India’ programme. ALISON which provides over 750 online certified courses has included NSDC’s curriculum on its platform, along with the ‘pre-departure’ courses, to prepare Indian migrants for working in the Middle East. The courses, which are taught in English and Hindi, will shortly be available in other Indian languages also.
Mosha, the elephant, gets her ninth artificial leg at a hospital in Thailand. She was the first elephant to be fitted with prosthetic leg a decade ago when she was maimed by a landmine near Myanmar. She was 7 months old then and weighed about 600 kg. Today her weight is about 2,000 kg. Her growth necessitates frequent upgrades of the prosthetic limb. A Thai orthopaedician, Dr Therdchai Jivacate, designs these prosthetic limbs for the elephants.
Mumbai’s iconic Siddhivinayak temple will now accept shares of listed companies as donations. The temple has opened a Demat account through SBICAP Securities to help devotees directly transfer the shares. The electronic platform will later be extended to other financial instruments such as bonds and mutual funds. However, one has to watch out for the Income Tax laws before rushing to donate. The Tirupati Trust operates a Demat account since last year after it found it difficult to transfer to Balaji’s name the physical share certificates dropped in the temple’s Hundis!
The hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic, a cause of great concern, has shrunk to ‘Size India.’ It has shrunk by 4 million sq km since 2,000 when ozone depletion was at its peak. Researchers have found that more than half the shrinkage was due to reduction in atmospheric chlorine originating from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) emitted by dry cleaning processes, aerosols such as hairsprays and old refrigerators. The 1987 Montreal Protocol banning use of CFCs was signed by almost all the countries as a step to repair the ozone hole.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has updated its pages to include social media lingo such as ROFL (Rolling on the floor laughing) and Tl;dr (Too long, didn’t read). Glamping (glamorous camping), Scooby Snack (a snack eaten to satisfy hunger induced by drinking), Listicle (an online article in a list form), bovver (bothered) are few other new words that find place in the dictionary.
