News Roundup - 16 November 2014

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday shared with his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, and U.S. President Barack Obama the story of an architect who made a name in their three nations and is buried in Lucknow. Walter Burley Griffin, who died on February 11, 1937, at the age of 61, was a landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra and had been credited with the development of the L-shaped floor plan, the carport and an innovative use of reinforced concrete. He also won a contract in 1935 to design the library at the University of Lucknow. Although he had planned to be in India only to complete the drawings for the library, he soon received more than 40 commissions, including those for the University of Lucknow Student Union building; a museum and library for the Raja of Mahmudabad; a zenana (women’s quarters) for the Raja of Jahangirabad; Pioneer Press building; a bank; municipal offices; many private houses; and a memorial to King George V. Griffin won complete design responsibility for the 1936-37 United Provinces Exhibition of Industry and Agriculture. He was inspired by the architecture and culture of India, modifying forms as “he sought to create a modern Indian architecture.”
2. The Singapore International Foundation on Saturday awarded seed fund to four winning teams of social entrepreneurs who could find innovative ways to do business. Among them was 'Jugnu', the Indian team that worked on a mobile application to enhance language skills for school students in non urban areas. Team members — Ankita Gupta, Priya. A and Pramodh Rai — from Delhi, completed their graduate education from NTU to chase the social entrepreneurship dream.
3. A nesting site of the extremely rare white-bellied heron has been discovered in a remote part of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. It is estimated that there are only 250 white-bellied herons ( Ardea insignis ) left in the world and only about 50 left in India. This is the first nesting site of the white- bellied heron to be discovered in India. Before the discovery of this site, Bhutan was (thought to be) the only country in the world to have a breeding population of the white-bellied heron. Declared a critically endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it is an “extremely shy” bird which feeds on fish in clear fast flowing rivers. The confluence of Noa-Dihing and Namdapha rivers in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve supports a few individuals of white-bellied heron by providing them with freshwater fish. The nest of the bird was found about 18 metres above ground on an East Indian almond ( Terminalia myriocarpa ) tree adjacent to a dry river bed covered in tall grass and small shrubs.
4. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis has been honoured with a knighthood by the Duke of Cambridge. He has become the only person to win the Academy Award for best actor three times

 Credits: Google, The Hindu