EXTRA-CURRICULAR

List of Padma Awards-2016

As a general trend, the Union Government will announce the Padma Awards on the eve of Republic Day. However, the list has been leaked on 25 January – a day before the Republic Day celebrations.

The Padma Awards will be given in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually in March or April every year.

The List is as follows :

Padma Vibhushan

1. Rajnikanth – Cinema
2. Ramoji Rao – Literature and Education (Journalism)
3. Shri Shri Ravi Shankar – Spiritualism
4. Yamini Krishnamurthi – Classical Dance
5. Girija Devi – Classical (Vocal)
6. Viswanathan Shanta – Medicine (Oncology)
7. Shri Jagmohan – Public Affairs
8. Dr Vasudeva Kalkunte Aatrre – Science & Engineering
9. Avinash Dixit (USA) – Literature & Education
10. Dhirubhai Ambani – Trade & Industry (Posthumous)

Padma Bhushan

1. Anupam Kher – Cinema
2. Heisnam Kanhailal – Theatre
3. Udit Narayan Jha – Playback SInging
4. Ram V Sutar – Sculpture
5. Robert D Blackwill – former US Ambassador to India
6. Saina Nehwal – Sports
7. Sania Mirza – Sports
8. Indu Jain – Bennett, Coleman & Co.
9. Vinod Rai – Civil Service
10. Swamy Tejomayananda – Spiritualism
11. Yarlagadda Lakshmi – Literature & Education
12. Barjinder Singh Hamdard – Literature & Education
13. NS Ramanuja Tatacharya – Literature & Education
14. Nageshwar Reddy – Gastroenterology

Padma Shri

1. Ujjwal Nikam – Senior Lawyer
2. Ajay Devgn – Cinema
3. Priyanka Chopra – Cinema
4. SS Rajamouli – Cinema
5. Malini Awasthi – Folk singer

Story: Glass, Lake and Salt

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the Master asked. "Not good at all," spat the apprentice.

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does it taste?" "Good!" remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things..... Stop being a glass.  Become a lake!" 

WhatsApp for free world-wide!

Extensively used instant messaging application, WhatsApp has been growing disruptively and used by billion users world-wide. The app was initially free for one year and later we have to extend the subscription by paying a fixed amount. But this charge was not levied for Indian users as they comprise the biggest number in the market.

It seems the company is planning to give the service for free world-wide. Facebook took over WhatsApp and has announced a good news in 2016. It seems WhatsApp will be turned into a communication platform for business organisations as well. They stressed on not to encourage any kind of third party ads on the App.

NEWS: PSLV-C31 launched successfully from Sriharikota

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today launched PSLV-C31 rocket successfully. Launched from Sriharikota space centre, near Chennai, the rocket is carrying the fifth satellite of India Regional NavigationSatellite System (IRNSS), the IRNSS-1E.
• As scheduled, the rocket blasted off from the second launch pad at 9.31 am today.
• This was the first rocket launch of the year. The fifth navigation satellite in the IRNSS space system, a constellation of seven satellites, would be at par with US-based GPS once the full complement of spacecraft is launched. The satellite’s life span is 12 years. 
• Though the full system comprises of nine satellites — seven in orbit and two on the ground as stand-by — the navigation services could be made operational with four satellites, said ISRO. The entire IRNSS constellation is planned to be completed this year itself.
• According to ISRO, the IRNSS-1E is carrying two types of payloads — navigation and ranging payloads. The navigation payload will transmit navigation service signals to the users. A highly accurate Rubidium atomic clock is part of the navigation payload of the satellite, ISRO said. This payload will be operating in L5-band and S-band. The ranging payload of IRNSS-1E consists of a C-band transponder (automatic receivers and transmitters of radio signals), which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite. It is also carrying corner cube retro reflectors for laser ranging.
• Till date, India has launched four regional navigational satellites (IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C and ID) to provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 kms. The first satellite IRNSS-1A was launched in July 2013, the second IRNSS-1B in April 2014, the third on October 2014 and the fourth on March 2015. 
• Each satellite costs around Rs 150 crore and the PSLV-XL version rocket costs around Rs 130 crore. The seven rockets would involve an outlay of around Rs 910 crore.
• Once the regional navigation system is in place, India will no longer be dependent on other platforms.                  

Why Do ATM Pins Have 4 Digits? Know Interesting Facts About ATM’s

Much as an asset the ATMs have revolutionized the banking industry and the way people carry out their banking transaction. The very first Automatic Teller Machine went public in 1969 with due pioneered efforts from John Adrian Shepherd Barron, who was a Scottish-born in Shillong.

ATM at today’s day and age are the most can’t-do-without machine changing lives by allowing people to have cash handy in just a swipe and all that with a help from the ATM pin. An ATM pin authenticates a user to access his/her bank account on an ATM to avail the underlined facilities.

■ Usually any PIN or Personal Identification Number can vary in length from 4 to 12, according to the ISO standard, although our present practices include a 4 digit pin more often.

■  A four digit pin can vary from 0000 -9999 allowing 10,000 possible combinations making them more vulnerable to crack and if we go by the books then 20% of the pins are vulnerable to hacking.

■  Another fact untold, the most common ATM pin have 1234 and 1111 topping the list. There are still many banks in various countries which go with the length six.

■  There is something else very interesting about ATM pins, each ATM has a reverse pin detection technology called ATMSafetyPin installed patented by IIlinois lawyer Joseph Zingher where if the user enters a their personal identification number (PIN) in reverse, it automatically calls the police immediately, although user gets the money. Presently, this software isn’t in use, though.

■  Switzerland and some other countries follow only six digit ATM pin.

Ever did the thought as to why an ATM pin is of length four, stuck your cerebrum? If yes, then you are quite alert and for the otherwise responses there is a quite uncomplicated answer to that. John Adrian Shepherd Barron himself preferred six digits for an ATM pin because he could easily remember his six figure army number but it all boiled down to the fact that oddly enough when he tried to experiment this on his wife Caroline, the longest she could remember were four digits. That is when he decided to stick with 4 digit pin code.

Though, a 4 digit pin not always puts one at risk as for anyone else to access it, it’s inevitable for them to be in possession of the card at the first place.
Digits more than 4 were a task bit difficult for Caroline to recall and yes she made us all lucky making us remember only 4 digits. Thanks, to the lady by all means.