August 2017 | Issue #8

IMoT’s Newsletter Progress Through Knowledge Sharing

Click here for our Monthly Newsletter Subscription www.imotforum.com

Inside..! A Scientific Farmer – T.

VENKATAPATHI REDDIAR

Micro plastics & Macro threat

Self - Cleaning Glasses

Five easy steps to compost

kitchen waste by yourself

Story of a Farmer Entrepreneur

Quiz, Puzzle, Mobile App,

Vegetable, Fruit, Medicinal and

Aromatic Crop.

Opportunities August’17

Last Month in a Page July’17

August Month:

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Editorial

Greetings,

'Dear Readers, we are happy to announce that it has been six months since we

began our journey from scratch. We published our first article and first newsletter

in January 2017. From then on, the growth has been stable and has been more than

our expectations. We are in the process of diversifying and expanding to multiple

platforms. Your support at all times has made this possible.

On 27th July 2017, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Abdul Kalam

Memorial right next to the latter's mortal remains in Rameshwaram on his 2nd death

anniversary. The Memorial hosts many artifacts which remind us of our beloved

leader who is fondly called 'The People's President'. As a tribute to the great leader,

it is our duty to achieve the vision of India 2020, the book return by him and Mr.

Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan.

Enjoy Reading…! Enjoy Sharing…!

- B Ashwin Kumar

Content & Editing

Ram Sundar | Ashwin Kumar | Vishnuram | Vignesh | Ragul Kannan |

Sowparanika | Harikishore | Venkatesh | Jayalani

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N O . O F

N E W S L E T T E R

S U B S C R I B E R S

N O O F W R I T E -U P S

T W I T T E R

F O L L O W E R S

I N S T A G R A M

F O L L O W E R S

F A C E B O O K

P A G E

F O L L O W E R S

A V E R A G E P A G E

V I E W S / D A Y

HEADWAYS OF IMOT

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY

@IgnitedMindsIMoT

@IgnitdMind_IMoT

IgnitedMinds_IMOT

IgnitedMinds_IMOT

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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App of the month ONLINE RTI

App URL: https://play.google.com

App launched by:

Department of Personnel &

Training, M/o Comm. & IT,

Government of India

Till now IMoT has published articles

on mobile application only related

to Agriculture. From now on we will

also tell you about the mobile apps

based on most downloads and

good content from all sectors. Let

us know about “ONLINE RTI”, one

such app which was released on

19th Dec 2014 by Department of

Personnel & Training, M/o Comm.

& IT, Govt of India.

An applicant who desires to obtain

information under the RTI Act, 2005

can make a request through this RTI

Online Application to the Central

Ministries/Departments and other

Central/State Public Authorities

mentioned in ONLINE RTI request

form. The newer way to access

concepts is welcome by all.

RTI can be used in the following

ways:

Know details on implementation

of any Govt Scheme or program

like Swachh Bharat and others.

A Scientific Farmer – T. VENKATAPATHI REDDIAR

Have you ever wondered a class IV dropout could become a Padma Shri Awardee?

Yes, it has become possible for this 71 years old florist and farmer scientist T.

Venkatapathi Reddiar. He has been awarded with Padma award for his pioneer

work in floriculture, Crossandras in particular. He also did an excellent work in

Casuarina plants. He was awarded with Padma Shri award in the field of

Horticulture during the year 2012. He was the First Padma Shri recipient from

Pondicherry.

When asked about why he has developed such an interest in floriculture, then came

a unique answer from him. He said, “Flowers plays an important role in human’s

life from birth to death”. Mr. Reddiar was born to a traditional farming couple Mr.

Tambula Reddiar and Mrs. Mangammal on 29th March 1946 at Koodapakkam, a

village in Pondicherry. He stopped his education at Std IV and assisted his father in

farming works. His interest in science made him to work in the field of floriculture

and succeed in his works.

A Scientific Farmer

He has developed more than 100 varieties of

Crossandras and hundreds of Casuarina plants.

When he came to know that he was selected for the

Padma Shri award, an excited Venkatapathi

Reddiar said, “It is an accomplishment and strong

recognition of my hard work and sustained

initiative in flower cultivation and horticulture”.

He developed Sri Lakshminarayana Crossandra

Innovative Centre, with which he is working on farm activities for more than 30

years. He was also felicitated with several awards by the State and Central Govt.

The Krishi Vigyan Kendra also figures in the Limca Book of World Records for his

innovative seedlings and Crossandras varieties.

An inspiration

Reddiar, who has been known as a progressive florist and farmer is an inspiration

for the youngsters. “If a person with no formal education can get recognized for

creating innovation in agriculture one wonders what students passing out from

various Agriculture Colleges can do. They can change the agriculture scenario if

they innovate,” Mr. Reddiar said.

The path he travelled

Elaborating his journey as a farmer, he said “it all began at the age of 19, even then

I was an ordinary farmer like others”. When his paddy cultivation yielded very less,

he switched a part of his cultivation to floriculture and conducted experiments on

Crossandra and Casuarina. He developed his knowledge through translated

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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Know details on funds allocated

for any Govt project and how

they were utilized.

Know how MP, MLA fund in your

locality was used.

Know how much funds were

allocated for fixing roads in your

area.

Know about any Govt rule or

procedure.

Get your delayed passport clear.

Get your pending IT refund and

your property documents, etc.

To summarize, RTI can be used to

get any information recorded with

any Govt office or clear any

personal work pending with Govt

office. There are some exceptions

like one cannot ask anything which

is a threat to national security or is

very personal to a person.

Total serviceable area: All-over

India

Language supported: English

Suitable for: Android (Version 4 and

up)

Size: 3.68 MB

Current version: 3.4.1

-Vignesh.S @thesekaran, S. Vignesh is an Energy and

Environmental Engineer, working as Energy Engineer at Illumine

Industries. He is interested in Renewable Energy Technologies, Environmental Management and

Multi-Media)

research papers and studied the technology of Gamma irradiation and developed

mutant variations in Crossandra and Casuarina.

During 50s and 60s, there was not much developed propagation technique for this

crop. He was the first farmer to develop a tissue culture laboratory and developed

plants through micro propagation with the little knowledge he had. He conducted

studies on Delhi Crossandra, a traditional variety that could give a yield of 20 kg of

flowers per day with mixed orange and red flowers. Through the cost of 1 Kg of

flower was around INR 350 this variety could not be propagated by seed because of

its triploid nature. So, he standardized the technology of nodal stem cuttings and

distributed several lakhs of Delhi Crossandra seedlings to farmers. On seeing his

excellent works, The Indira Gandhi Atomic Centre, Kalpakkam partnered with him

in developing hybrid varieties in Crossandra that are pest resistant and has a life

span of around five years when compared to normal five months crops.

His honor for Great Leaders

He named one of his innovative variety of

Crossandra as Abdul Kalam variety and also

named another variety as Rangasamy variety

(named after the ex-CM of Pondicherry) for the

Casuarina he had developed. These varieties

adorn Mughal gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan

garden in New Delhi, in the memory of Mr.

Kalam.

It has become important for the younger generation to have awareness about our

environment. From the lives of such great hard workers like Mr. T. Venkatapathi

Reddiar, we need to learn great lessons to succeed in our lives. Students who study

agriculture should bring out innovation in the field of agriculture to make the

mankind adaptable to the current scenario. Hari Kishore V. Horticulture graduate. He is interested in reading books and

gardening. He is also fascinated in playing musical instruments and singing

Micro Plastics and Macro Threat Micro plastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be

harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. As per the estimate in 2014, around

2,70,000 tons of Micro plastics were floating over ocean surface and the number is

slowly increasing. The impact of micro plastics is increasing over the years; It first

affected Water ecosystem and now it had entered into human environment and

food stuffs.

When Micro plastics dissolve in seawater through pollution and poor waste

disposal mechanisms, it absorb the harmful toxins. Sometimes it become bead like

form, called as micro beads. These Micro plastics and micro beads are consumed

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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Answers for last month

Puzzle

You can see me in water but I

never get wet. Who am I?

Ans: Reflection

Name the word which has three

consecutive double letters.

Ans: Bookkeeper

Puzzle for the month

A woman shoots her husband,

then holds him under water for

five minutes. Finally, she hangs

him. Five minutes later they

enjoy a wonderful dinner

together. How can this be?

2 in a corner, 1 in a room, 0 in

house but 1 in shelter. What am

I?

Quiz of the Month

1. Name the Nation’s 1st Railway

station run by women.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Teerminus

Dharavi Railways station

Matunga Railways station

Bandra Railways station

2. Barak bridge which connects this land, locked State with rest of the Country. Name it.

Assam

West Bengal

Manipur

Meghalaya

3. Recently singing National song

“Vande Mataram” has been made

mandatory for Govt institutions.

Name the author of the song.

Bankim Chandra Banerjee

Mohammed Iqbal

Rabindranath Tagore

accidentally by zooplankton, which in turn

is consumed by larger fishes, prawns and

other marine organisms. It affects the life

of marine organisms by damaging

digestive tract, body parts and

reproduction. Humans upon consuming

those marine food stuffs can also get

affected by these Micro plastics. More than

a quarter of all fish now contain plastic, according to recent study which analyzed

the guts of fish sold at markets in Indonesia and California.

Micro beads are very small pieces of plastic in products such as facial scrubs. Some

are visible to the naked eye, but others are as tiny as one micrometer. Sphericity

and particle size uniformity create a ball-bearing effect in creams and lotions,

resulting in a silky texture and spreadability…Click here to read more

- Ram Sundar.S is a graduate in Horticulture. Loves to read books, gardening,

debating and now blogging. He write on topics Agri Politics and Horticulture. He is

also the founder and Admin of this Agri Forum. sundar.ram94@gmail.com

Self – Cleaning Glasses What happens when glasses clean

themselves? Moreover the process is

energy efficient and there is no need for

an external device for cleaning. Glasses

are used in many applications such as

windows for residential buildings,

commercial buildings & vehicles, etc. Glass which is made of silica hates water and

doesn't react with it, exhibiting the character hydrophobicity.

When glass is coated with nano-porous Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) films, it imposes

self-cleaning effect. The TiO2 films coated over the top layer of glasses along with

phosphotungstic acid exhibits anti-corrosive effect. The reason behind the

coating of TiO2 films, is the super hydrophobicity of the film towards the water

droplets. Super hydrophobicity is a phenomenon where the surfaces are highly

hydrophobic i.e., extremely difficult to wet. Here, the most important parameter

influencing the super hydrophobicity is the water contact angle. More specifically,

a contact angle less than 90° indicates that wetting of the surface is favorable, and

the fluid will spread over a large area on the surface; while contact angles more

than 90° generally means that the wetting the surface is unfavourable, so the fluid

will minimize its contact with the surface and form a compact liquid droplet. For

super hydrophobic surfaces, water contact angle are usually more than 150°,

showing almost no contact between the liquid drop and the surface, which can

rationalize the "lotus effect". This so-called Wenzel-effect surface or lotus effect

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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Bipin Chandra Pal

4. Name the supercluster of galaxies which are 4 billion light years away and 20,000 trillion massive than sun discovered by Indian scientists.

Lakshmi

Saraswati

Durga

Amba

5. Doklam is a disputed territory claimed by

China & Bhutan

India & Pakistan

Bangladesh & Myanmar

India & Sri Lanka

Answers for the Quiz

1. Matunga Railway station

2. Manipur

3. Bankim Chandra Banerjee

4. Saraswati

5. China & Bhutan

surface has less contact area by an amount proportional to the recessed area,

giving it a high contact angle.

Does sunlight play a major role on TiO2 films? Yes, exactly it causes photo-

catalytic effect. It's a material that makes chemical reactions happen when the

right kind of light shines on it. The right kind of light for TiO2 is ultra-violet (UV),

the super-blue and the high energy part of sunlight that our eyes can't see. When

UV light hits the TiO2 films, electrons are generated. Thus, turning water

molecules from the air into hydroxyl ions (OH-), that makes the redox reactions

over the organic (carbon based) dirt particles and convert them into smaller

molecules. The oxidation effect occurs during the sunlight and the reduction occurs

when the water molecules in the air is converted into larger droplets. The dirt

particles are washed away along with the droplets (water contact angle, θwc >

150°), even during the rainy days.

TiO2 films have higher refractive index and is a photo-catalyst, more suitable for the

self-cleaning effect of glasses.

- Sampath Kumar. Energy and Environmental Engineering Graduate

interested in topics of climate change, solar photovoltaic and

environmental management.

Five easy steps to Compost Kitchen Waste by yourself

Various attempts are made by civic bodies to make our city clean, green and

garbage free. But with increasing population and urbanization managing garbage

wasn’t easy job now and in future. If we take care of our own kitchen waste half

the burden will be reduced. Join with me to put an end to actions like throwing

waste in water bodies and polluting the surrounding by throwing the waste out of

our home. Join hands to make wealth out of waste…

Let’s see how to make organic manure using biodegradable waste by composting in home.

Materials required to make home composter - Take a 14 inch pot, vertical end of the pot should be around at least more

than 12 inches - A plastic jar with lid. - A small pipe to drain water out.

For odorless composting to happen moisture, air and microorganism have to be taken care. As long as we take care of these three things, odorless compost will be

ready within 20-25 days.

Tree of the month -PUNGAM

- Pongamia pinnata, native to tropical and temperate

Asia is propagated by seeds and stem cuttings.

- Highly effective in curing ulcers and gum diseases.

- The main asset of the tree is Pungam oil, which is an

alternative to chemical pesticides and good repellent for pests.

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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Procedure Take a plastic jar and make holes in it

for aeration. Remove the jar lid and use it

like a reservoir. The lid is fixed below the

jar by making a hole below the plastic jar.

Connect a small pipe to the side of

reservoir (lid) for drainage of excess water.

Take a pot with the dimensions as

mentioned above. Place the plastic jar

fitted with the reservoir inside the pot. Allow the pipe to come outside the

pot by making a hole on the side of pot. Continue reading…

- Nandhini.C is a Horticulture student. She is interested in Interior-scaping

that nurtures her creativity and artistic work. She plans to start a Garden

consultancy service and nursery

Leading Farmers with Leaf Propagation How many methods of propagation of plants are commercially successful?

By seeds, Cuttings, Grafting, Layering, Tissue culture…..that’s it??? There is

another method of propagation. It was identified and commercialized and also has

been applied for patent by a farmer Mr. Rajarathnam (Now a nursery holder) in

EDEN GARDENS Mettupalayam, Coimbatore District. It is by LEAF PROPAGATION

of plants. Starting from scratch is difficult, so nowadays, the big enterprises are

buying established firms. But a farmer started his nursery in 1994 without any

prior experience in the field with an investment of just 5,000 Rupees. The idea

behind this startup was to provide quality and high yielding plants to the farmers.

Initially he was providing jasmine saplings to farmers of Mettupalayam and found

it difficult to run this firm without much exposure in this field

Mr. Rajarathnam made a tie up with Forestry College and Research Institute,

Mettupalayam in 2013-2014. Through NAIP Scheme he gave 1 Million

saplings/year. Due to his good association in this project, EDEN GARDENS was

again selected for National Bamboo Mission for which he standardized and

provided bamboo planting materials. He finished B.F.Tech in Tamil Nadu

Agricultural University and with the help of Dr.Janavi, Asst.Prof he got the chance

to learn about tissue culture. Due to his out of box thinking, the idea of LEAF

CULTURE was born. The other methods of propagation requires more planting

material and labour but in this method from a single plant we are able to

propagate 500 saplings. (It’s a vegetative propagation so we need not worry about

the yield if it would resemble the parents).

More farmers are coming forward to do organic farming including engineering

graduates. But where will they get the seedlings?? Is it organic?? Thus, Mr.

- Ricinus communis,propagated by seeds and

cuttings.

- Oil obtained from this is used as a laxative,reduces

joint pain/arthritis.

- Industrial uses include manufacture of candles ,

varnishes and insecticides.

Agri crop of the month -CASTOR

KNOL-KHOL (Kohlrabi)

Coccinia grandis

- Brassica olearaceae var.gongylodes is propagatedmostly by seeds and thentransplanted.

- Tastes mild sweet withcrispy texture.

- It is eaten raw or cooked,stem and leaves are alsoedible.

- Dieteryfiber, rich sourceof minerals and vitamin C,zero cholesterol.

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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Rajarathnam established INDIA’S FIRST ORGANIC NURSERY with the help of

ISCOP (Indian Society for Certification of Organic products).The Indian Govt

prepared standards for Organic nursery for this man (a Farmer) for the first time.

Mechanized nursery by divestment of money with an investment of knowledge, he

succeeded the cultivation of red lady Papaya organically. His enthusiasm towards

knowledge didn’t stop because he applied for M.F.Tech in TNAU.

Parallely he started thinking, how to commercialize the technique LEAF CULTURE.

He tried with NONI plant which has more medicinal value. R&D work in his nursery

without any hifi-technology became successful. He gave advertisement to many

newspapers, magazines etc. to reveal his technology to the public. All the ideas

were invalid at that time, but one Tamil newspaper published his success and then

it got ignited everywhere. Then he started to commercially produce Guava, Noni,

Jasmine, Kakada, Naval and Lemon. Even though he fetches more price than other

nurseries, he finds it difficult to maintain stock due to high demand. He proudly

added that here our quality speaks.

EDEN GARDEN has been identified as “New Rural Industry” and became the

member of Agri Business Incubator Model, TNAU, Coimbatore. With the help of

Director Dr.Murugesan he got grant of INR 6.25 lacs in 2015 to extend the work in

LEAFCULTURE. In a joint venture with Mr.Abdullah, he is going to release Organic

Noni juices and soaps. Within two months you can get EDEN Noni juices and soaps

in the name of Triat Noni. He is the Rotary Club President, Mettupalayam and

was recently awarded for his social service towards schools, public and owns Eden

academy for people who are studying in government schools. His journey towards

innovation is rapidly moving and his social responsibility touches the hearts of

younger generation.

Mr. Rajarathnam can be contacted at-

EDEN GARDEN NURSERY

METTUPAALAYAM

94860 94670

- Venkatesh. Interested in entrepreneurship. Nature lover.

Medicinal plant of the month - NONI

- Morindacitrifolia, native toSouth-East Asia.

- Propagation is done by seedsand stem cuttings.

- Value added products includenoni juice and tea, which helpsin reducing blood pressure andcures heart disease and stroke.

- Dyes from noni are used tocolor fabrics and clothing.

Fruit of the month - PASSION

- Passifloraedulis, propagation is done

by fresh seeds.

- Native to southern Brazil, it is often found

in sub-tropical and temperate regions.

- It is used in making salads,desserts and is mixed with other fruit

juices for getting better aroma.

- It is a good source of dietery fibre.

IMoT Newsletter August 2017

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-Ragul Kannan is a B.Tech Energy and Environmental Engineering Graduate who is interested in Current Affairs, Sustainable

Environment and Renewable Energy. Tweet @RagulKhannan

Month in a Page – July 2017

July 1 GST came to light. July 1 will be celebrated as ‘GST Day’ - Goods and Services Tax (GST) in upcoming years.

July 2 Achal Kumar Jyoti was appointed as India’s new Chief Election Commissioner replacing Nasim Zaidi.

July 3 Nil

July 4 Indo-Thai joint military exercise Ex Maitree 2017 begins in Himachal Pradesh.

July 5 Apatani trib of Arunachal Pradesh celebrates “Dree Festival”.

July 6 India declares itself free from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1 and H5N8).

July 7 No detention policy (Non fail provision for students till 8th std) will be invalid from next academic year – HRD Ministry.

The Trilateral Malabar exercise (India-Japan-Us) begins in Chennai.

July 8 “GST Rate Finder App” launched by centreto help the public to know the revised tax rate.

July 9 12th meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) (G20 Summit) begins in Hamburg, Germany.

July 10 Mother Terasa’s blue border sari which was worn by nuns was declared as Intellectual Property of Missionaries of Charity.

July 11 NGT bans use of nylon and synthetic manja in the strings used to fly kites.

Committee had been formed to study the legalities for ensuring the separate State flag for Karnataka. July 12 BCCI appoints Ravi Shastri as new head coach of Indian cricket team, Zaheer Khan bowling coach.

July 13 Indian Astronomers discover supercluster of galaxies and names it as ‘Saraswati’.

Arunachal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands get exemption from SC highway liquor ban.

July 14 Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo passes away.

July 15 World’s First breeding Centre for Saolo (The saola, or Asian bicorn, world’s rarest large mammals) opened in Vietnam.

July 16 Nil

July 17 Tata Motors develops India’s first bio-CNG (bio-methane) bus.

July 18 Smriti Irani to replace Venkaiah Naidu as new Information & Broadcasting Minister.

July 19 TR Zeliang Sworn as 19th Chief Minister of Nagaland dismissing the five-month-old government of Shurhozelie Liezietsu.

July 20 BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee Ram Nath Kovind was elected as the 14th President of India defeating Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.

July 21 The 200th anniversary celebrations of “The Paika Rebellion of Odisha” celebrated in New Delhi (Paika Rebellion of 1817 was India’s first organized armed rebellion against British Raj).

July 22 Chennai Open renamed to Maharashtra Open, to be held in Pune from its next season.

July 23

India was a third largest in terror target after Iraq and Afghanistan – US report according to National Consortium

for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (NCSTRT).

China and Russia have started their naval exercise “Joint Sea 2017” in the Baltic Sea.

July 24 Indian team won 5 medals at World Para Athletics Championships 2017, London (1 Gold, 2 Silver & 2 Bronze).

England beat India in ICC Women World Cup 2017.

July 25 Bolivia declared its total independence from World Bank & IMF.

July 26 Madras HC makes “Vande Mataram” mandatory in Schools, Govt. and Private Offices.

July 27 Shifting from Lalu Side to Modi, Nitish Kumar sworn as a Chief Minister of Bihar for 6th time. July 28 Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif resigns over Panama Papers verdict from Pak SC. July 29 Tata Motors develops India’s first bio-CNG (bio-methane) bus. July 30 Sri Lanka, China sign $1.5 billion Hambantota port deal (Sri Lanka’s Govt signed an agreement to sell a 70% stake in

a $1.5 billion Hambantota port to China). July 31 Government mulls extended July 31st deadline for Income Tax Returns filing till August 5th.