Latest news with #NationalInstituteofDesign
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Shubhanshu Shukla's Axiom-4 mission postponed to June 10
BENGALURU: Group Captain and three other crew members of the Axiom-4 mission (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS) will now launch at 5.52pm, IST, on June 10, pushed by two days from the earlier launch date of June 8. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'The Ax4 crew is scheduled to launch to the ISS on June 10 at 8:22am (Eastern Time) from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre,' Axiom Space said Tuesday, without elaborating on the cause for postponement. With just a few days to go for launch, Shukla addressed the world with a stirring message of resolve, gratitude and vision—one firmly rooted in science and proudly anchored in India's cultural heritage. He spoke as part of the crew's final interaction before lift-off. Stating that he feels deeply inspired, prepared and confident going to the International Space Station (ISS), he said: 'Even stars are attainable.' 'The last few months have been nothing short of extraordinary, of discovery and unshakable resolve. From diverse systems to advanced platforms, across continents and cultures. This training has been intense but deeply rewarding,' he said. He reiterated that he won't be carrying just instruments and equipment, but the 'hopes and dreams of a billion hearts', and said he will conduct seven Indian-designed experiments developed by research institutions from across the nation. 'These investigations will explore how microgravity affects everything from stem cell cultures to crop seeds, advancing India's footprint in space-based science. These experiments will pave the way for India's progress in microgravity science. And I am proud to be the bridge between Earth and orbit for this pioneering research,' he said. 'Joy' in Orbit Ax-4 commander Peggy Whitson, stating that every mission is different as every crew brings something new to the table and that she has been incredibly impressed by the dedication, the work ethic, and the passion of her team, she said: '.... Tired of too many ads? go ad free now And then, there's 'Joy'—the crew's chosen zero-gravity indicator, and a symbol of the cultural mosaic onboard.' The swan, named Joy, represents 'Wisdom in India', 'Resilience in Poland', and 'Grace in Hungary'. 'More than just a companion, Joy will signal our arrival in microgravity shortly after launch. Through Joy, we'll celebrate our diversity and our unity in the shared journey of space exploration,' she said. NID Souvenirs The mission isn't just scientific. To mark India's artistic and cultural spirit, Shukla is carrying souvenirs crafted by students from the National Institute of Design — artefacts that represent the spirit of India. 'I carry them with deep pride.' On whether he would have a live interaction with PM Modi from ISS, he said: '...We have several planned live events from orbit, including interactions with Indian VIPs, students, academia, and the space industry to share my experiences with people back home.' Reiterating that India's first astronaut, Wing Commander (retd) Rakesh Sharma has been a great mentor, Shukla said: 'I am carrying something to honour him, but I cannot reveal it as I still haven't told him what it is and I want that to be a surprise.' Sharma won't be travelling to view the launch. 'I am carrying a few delicacies from India. We have a very rich culinary culture, so some of the items I'm bringing include mango nectar, moong dal halwa, and carrot halwa. Some of these are my favorites, and I'm so happy to be able to carry them to share with my colleagues and the astronauts who are currently on the station,' Shukla said. He called upon the youth of India to invest in the country's future in space. 'Space is not a distant dream, but a future they can shape… Bharat, with missions like Gaganyaan and space station, will need the young generation to be invested in space exploration. Hence, I call upon every Bharatvasi to join us, participate, engage and dream boldly,' he said.
Scroll.in
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Ramachandra Guha: Trump's attack on US universities are a tragedy for the entire world
Growing up in the India of the 1970s, I had ambivalent feelings towards America. I admired some of their writers (Ernest Hemingway was a particular favourite) and adored the music of Bob Dylan and Mississippi John Hurt. On the other hand, I was just about old enough to remember – and never forget – how Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger had so energetically supported Pakistan against India (and Bangladesh) in the war of 1971. In 1980 I moved to Calcutta, and my ambivalence turned to outright hostility. Under the influence of my Marxist teachers, I became actively anti-American. I expressed private and public disdain for their brashness, their gross commercialism, their imperialist (mis)adventures in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Left to myself I would never have entered the United States of America. However, in 1985, my wife, Sujata, a recent graduate of the National Institute of Design, got a scholarship to do a Masters at Yale University. I could not stand in her way – the Yale graphic design department was reckoned to be the best in the world – but had to find a way to join her. Fortunately, I had come to know the historian, Uma Dasgupta, who then held a senior position at the United States Educational Foundation for India. With Uma di 's advice and assistance, I applied for a visiting lecturership at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, which – to my surprise – actually came through. Sujata left for Yale in August 1985. In November of the same year, this confirmed anti-American found himself outside the US Consulate on Ho Chi Minh Sarani. The counter opened at 8.30 am – I was there at seven, partly out of anxiety, and partly because when I accompanied Sujata for her visa interview in Madras there was a long line outside the American Consulate there, curving right around Mount Road all the way to the Thousand Lights Mosque. But here there was just one person ahead of me in the queue. It struck me that the Tamils were not at all anti-American, and produced engineers in far greater numbers than the Bengalis. Besides, I was due to teach from the spring term, when fewer Indians sought to go West than in the autumn. I reached Yale on January 2, 1986, and spent the next year-and-a-half expanding my mind, teaching as well as learning from my students. In retrospect, I am very glad I went to America when I did. Since I had done a PhD already, I was sure of the ground on which I stood. Meeting young Indian historians who had studied in America, I was immediately struck by how driven by fashion their work was. In the wake of Edward Said's Orientalism, post-colonialism and Cultural Studies were all the rage. In the two disciplines I knew best, history and social anthropology, sustained empirical research was not encouraged any more. Rather than spend months in the field or in the archive, these acolytes of Edward Said preferred to take out texts by dead white males from the nearest library and scrutinise them for their departures from what then passed for 'radical politics'. SHALOM COLUMBIA: The Trump Admin, led by @USEDgov and the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @HHSGov, & @USGSA), has canceled ~$400M in federal grants to @Columbia over its failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 7, 2025 The Indians of my generation who had come to America to study and teach had largely done so for personal advancement. But it was not so much for their opportunism that I shunned them; it was more that their intellectual concerns were not mine. The scholars I was attracted to worked on one or both of my subject fields – the environment and social protest – albeit in cultures and contexts other than my own. At Yale itself, I had long conversations with the environmental sociologist, William Burch, the environmental historian, William Cronon, and the ecological anthropologist, Timothy Weiskel. A senior Yale scholar whom I spoke with regularly was James Scott, who had just published what in my view remains the best of his many books, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. Outside Yale, I made contact with the comparativist, Michael Adas, at Rutgers, the sociologist, Louise Fortmann, at Berkeley, and the doyen of American environmental history, Donald Worster, then teaching at Brandeis. These scholars had worked on Africa, Southeast Asia and North America, using techniques and disciplines different from the ones to which I was accustomed. And, unlike established academics in Calcutta or Delhi, these American professors were refreshingly free of hierarchy. Though much older than myself, they were happy to be called by their first names, and happy to have their ideas critically assessed too. Meeting these scholars, and reading their works, expanded my intellectual horizons and enlarged my intellectual ambitions. Like them, I wanted to publish my PhD as a book, and get on to work on a second book, and then a third. Too many Indians I knew had written a fine first book and then rested on their laurels. On the other hand, Adas, Scott and Worster all had an impressive oeuvre, notable for its depth and its diversity. That was the model I wished to follow when I came back home. One reason Sujata and I enjoyed Yale so much is that we knew that when she graduated, we would go back to our homeland. The other Indians at Yale were all desperate to stay on – which meant that they were anxious to take the right courses to get the right job that might get them a work visa and in time a Green Card. Because we had no such anxieties, we could take full advantage of all that this great university had to offer. And we made some close American friends, with whom we are still in touch. TRUMP: 'Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are and they're getting their a** kicked.' — Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 28, 2025 In the four decades since we returned from New Haven, I have been back to the US many times. Most trips have been short – a week or two – but occasionally I have spent longer spells at universities on the East and West Coasts. I have the happiest memories of a semester spent at the University of California at Berkeley, where – at this great public university – the students were as intellectually sharp yet of far more diverse backgrounds than at Yale or Stanford. I was teaching a course on Mahatma Gandhi, and the interest shown in the man and his legacy by my Burmese, Jewish and African-American students convinced me that it would be worth my while to spend the next decade (and more) researching and writing about Gandhi. I was myself entirely educated in India, and have spent the vast bulk of my life living and working in India. Yet, I owe an enormous debt to the scholars and students I have spent time with in America. And to the libraries and archives in that country too, which often contain priceless documents on the history of India unavailable in my homeland. I therefore feel a deep sense of anguish and anger at what Donald Trump is doing to wreck the American university system. Whether conducted out of ideology or personal spite, Trump's campaign is causing enormous damage to a country he leads and claims to love. It is true that in recent decades, the American higher education system has committed some self-goals. Of these, two stand out – the capitulation to identity politics, which has greatly inhibited free discussion and constructive debate on campuses; and the decision to do away with the retirement age, so that scholars in their eighties and nineties are still there to teach (smaller and smaller) classes, maintain large offices, and retain voting rights over future appointments. That said, most of the best universities in the world are still in the US. By educating and influencing scholars from all over the world, they have enormously enhanced the country's soft power. And, perhaps more pertinently, they have nourished an apparently unending stream of scientific creativity, which has played an incalculable role in making America the most economically and technologically advanced country in the world. Before I went to Yale in 1986, I had been for some time a critic of American foreign policy. In the years since, I have retained my strong scepticism of its government's intentions abroad. All through my life, the foreign policy of the US has been characterised by a mixture of arrogance and hypocrisy. Yet its universities are another matter altogether. They are an adornment to humanity, and motivated or ignorant attacks on them should be mourned by thinking people of all nationalities.
Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Serendipity Arts Festival turns 10
Photo artist Dayanita Singh often credits tabla maestro Zakir Hussain as her mentor. She was still a student at the National Institute of Design when she first encountered him. Travelling with him and his peers through the '80s led to her first book, a graduation project, in 1986. Over the years, she photographed him innumerable times, as he became an intrinsic part of her life and art. Now months after he passed away in December 2024, Singh is paying him a tribute in Birmingham. 'Zakir Hussain Maquette' is one of the several highlights of the Serendipity Arts Festival Mini Edition that is on in Birmingham till May 26. The outreach is part of the multidisciplinary festival's tenth anniversary celebrations. Expanding its global outreach, over the next few months, it will travel to 10 cities, including Dubai. Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Foundation, states, 'As we mark the 10th milestone edition of Serendipity Arts Festival, we see this not just as a moment to celebrate, but as an opportunity to evolve. This edition is a way of looking back at a decade of building one of South Asia's largest multidisciplinary arts festivals while taking it forward in the world, to new regions and audiences… While selecting international locations, we were identifying cities where vibrant communities, dynamic public culture, and thriving creative ecosystems intersect.' Birmingham and Dubai, Rajgarhia notes, became 'natural choices'. 'Birmingham has a rich artistic legacy with iconic cultural venues and a significant history in the performing arts. Added to this is a large South Asian diaspora… Later this year, we plan to travel with a slice of the Festival to Dubai. In the last few years, the burgeoning arts scene in the UAE has attracted art collectors, patrons, local visitors, international tourists and galleries, making it a meaningful choice for us to have a presence there.' Being held at Birmingham City University, the festival also involves its students, who are participating in the workshops and engaging with curators and artists. At the heart of the Mini Edition's programme is 'Thumri in the Chamber', exploring the layered beauty of the semi-classical Hindustani vocal form that embodies poetic storytelling, improvisation and emotional depth. The musical line-up also includes Portuguese-Goan music by Zubin Balaporia and Nadia Rebelo, and ghazals and Bollywood classics by Priyanka Barve and Sarang Kulkarni. A documentary directed by Sumantra Ghosal on Zakir Hussain's musical journey will be screened along with a curated selection of films on Indian music by Dharmesh Rajput. Also on display will be 'Eternal Echoes', archival images of Indian musical instruments from the collection of Sunil Kant Munjal, curated by Helen Acharya, 'highlighting the craftsmanship and cultural legacy of Indian music'. Rajgarhia states, 'The curation for Birmingham was very context-driven. In Goa, we have the luxury of time and scale with 10 days, 20-plus venues and over 150 projects; we're able to build a truly immersive experience that spills into the city. In contrast, the Mini Edition in Birmingham is a more focussed, four-day format, and so the approach had to be precise and layered. We curated projects that reflect the values of SAF — interdisciplinary, experimentation, and accessibility, but also ones that could resonate deeply with local and diasporic audiences.' While Goa will continue to be the flagship edition, the tenth anniversary year will also see select programming in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai. 'We like to explore how the differences in each city, its character, diverse people, artistic collaborations, and eclectic socio-cultural influences shape our festival. Rather than simply touring with the same set of events, each city will have different programmes, some of which have been showcased in the past. They're curated in the context of the location. Some core projects may travel from one city to another, especially those that can adapt across formats. But each edition will also include region-specific collaborations and programming. The goal is not uniformity, but cultural resonance,' adds Rajgarhia.
Indian Express
19-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
NID Ahmedabad terminates agreement with Dhaka institute
Citing 'paramount interest of national priorities' in the wake of political and economic tensions between India and Bangladesh, the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, on Monday prematurely terminated the collaborative agreement with Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Bangladesh's Dhaka with immediate effect. NID Ahmedabad and Pathshala had signed the agreement for mutually beneficial academic activities in 2023. 'We are with the country and with the government. For the institute, nation is first and in that direction a call was taken. There were no directions from any government (state or central),' NID director Ashok Mondal told The Indian Express. The agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two institutes was valid for a period of five years. 'However, in view of the current situation and in the paramount interest of national priorities, NID Ahmedabad has decided to take a firm stand and in solidarity with national sentiment as well as in alignment with its ethical framework, the institute has processed termination of the collaborative agreement signed between the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh,' NID stated in an official statement. In 2015 too, the two institutes had signed a similar agreement, which was valid for three years. 'Though not a legal binding, it was essentially an agreement for academic activity between the two institutes. It was a generic MoU for exchange of academic activities like faculty and student exchange programmes… However, no such activity was undertaken since the signing of the agreement. In the previous agreement too, there was not much exchange programmes or events,' International Programmes Officer Sameer More told this paper. The official statement further stated: 'NID Ahmedabad remains committed to prioritising national interests and upholding its institutional values, responsibilities, and will continue to support the decisions taken by the government. The agreement was not with a specific department or faculty, but between the two institutes to have a larger scope.' Pathshala offers various short-term and long-term programmes in photography, film and multimedia journalism. Started in 1998, the institution has slowly grown to become a full-fledged photography educational institution. NID Ahmedabad signs various MoUs with government, social and public institutes, organisations and entities along with state governments to foster exchange of design activities. The institute also works on several projects commissioned to them from these organisations.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
‘National priorities': NID ends collab with B'desh institute
Ahmedabad: The National Institute of Design (NID) in the city on Monday announced termination of a collaboration with a Bangladesh-based media institute citing "national sentiment". The agreement was for a range of academic activities, said officials. In a statement issued by the premier design institute, officials announced termination of collaboration agreement between NID and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute based in Dhaka that was signed a few years ago. "In view of the current situation and in the paramount interest of national priorities, NID Ahmedabad has decided to take a firm stand and in solidarity with national sentiment as well as in alignment with its ethical framework, the institute has processed termination of the collaborative agreement," read the statement. Ashok Mondal, the NID director, told TOI that the design institute remains committed to prioritising national interests. "The decision is taken in light of the recent developments aligning with the institutional values. The institute will continue to support decisions taken by the govt," he said. Sources close to the development said that the agreement was part of international collaborations of NID and was initiated in 2015 which ended in 2018. It was again renewed in 2023. "As part of the agreement, some collaborative activities took place especially in the photography vertical. Since 2023, there have been no joint activities," said sources. The move comes amid recent strain in India-Bangladesh trade relationship with India imposing import restrictions on Bangladeshi goods in retaliation to Bangladesh's imposition of transit charges on Indian exports. It is notable that several institutions in India including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia. Chandigarh University and Maulana Azad National Urdu University have severed ties with countries such as Turkey and Azerbaijan in wake of the two countries supporting Pakistan in the recent Indo-Pak conflict in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack.
