First Woman Guard appointed in Indian Railways for Freight Train Services . July 2013 .

D. Mohini Kumari, a woman has been appointed for the first time in history of the South Central Railways (SCR) as a ‘Guard’ for the Goods/Freight trains.

Mohini Kumari, a graduate,  was initially appointed in 2006 as a clerk, on compassionate grounds after the death of her husband. She subsequently qualified for the post of Guard after a departmental examination and subsequently underwent training in Secuderabad.  Mohini Kumari, the 43-year old graduate took charge of her new position as ‘Guard’ on Friday, July 26th, 2013.

India’s First Female Judoka Olympian Athlete . July 2002 .

Lourembam Brojeshori Devi, aged 19 was the first and only female judoka in the Indian Olympic contingent who participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in the Judo event ‘ Women’s Half-lightweight ‘.

Brojeshori Devi at 19 was a National champion . She  participated in 20 international and 16 national judo championships. Took part in the 2002 Busan Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games 2002 (Manchester) and in 2006 (Melbourne). This judoka won 2 Gold medals in SAF Games in 2006 and 2010. She won a Silver medal at the Vietnam International Judo tournament at Ho Chi Min city. Also represented India in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (China).

Brojeshori Devi was coached by Deven Moirangthem from Imphal (Manipur)for the period 1995-1988.

L. Brojeshori Devi born January 01st,1981 hails from Imphal, Manipur. She is the 3rd child amongst 5 children born to Lourembam Manglem and Taruni L. of Khagempalli, Huidrom Leikai. She was married to Th Rojen of Tabungkhok Mayai Leikai.

Brojeshori joined the CRPF in 1999 and worked as ‘Inspector’ of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). She was undergoing training in July 2013 at the CRPF Training Centre in Coimbatore on a Departmental training programme to become ‘Assistant Commandant’ when she became unwell.

She expired prematurely at 10.45pm, July 21st,2013 – aged 32,  at G.K. Hospital, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu where she was rushed for health related treatment. Lourembam Brojeshori Devi’s last rites were carried out by her husband Rojen Singh in Tabukhok Mayailekai near Imphal.

First differently-abled Indian Athlete to win Gold at IPC Athletics World Championship, France . July 2013 .

Devendra Jhajhaira scripted history and became the first differently-abled Indian to win Gold as he bagged the first position in the Javelin event at the 6th IPC Athletics World Championship held at the Rhone Stadium in Venissieux near Lyons, France on Monday – July 22nd, 2013.

Jhajhaira also created the record of the event in France by hurling the Javelin to 57.04m in the F-46 category meant for one-armed athletes. He led the 11-athlete field from the very beginning.

India was represented by a 10-member contingent in this July 19-28 Championship. The Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) President, Sultan Ahmed congratulated Devendra Jhajhaira and the PCI announced an award of 5 lakhs.

The 2013 6th edition IPC Athletics World Championship featured over a 1000 athletes from 100 countries and is the biggest gathering of internationally disabled athletes since the 2012 London Olympics.

Devendra Jhajhaira, 32 year old, who lost his left hand in an accident is the son of a farmer Ram Singh hailing from the desert terrain Churu district of Rajasthan, the gateway to the Thar desert. He is a class IV employee of the Indian Railways and is thankful to the Railyways who allowed him to practice and train throughout the year.

It was in 1997, that Jhajhaira was spotted by his coach Ripudaman Singh Aulak, a Dronacharya Awardee in Javelin. He shifted to the nearby town of Kasab for better training facilities. Soon he was training at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala (Punjab).

Devendra Jhajhaira is the (1) 2nd gold medallist at the Paralympics after Murlikant Petkar (2) At Athens (Greece) he created a new world recored of 62.15m throw (3) He won a Gold medal at the 8th FESPIC Games in Korea.

Following his spectacular performance in the 2004 Paralympics Games, Jhajhaira was conferred the ‘ Arjuna Award ‘ in 2005. He is also the first Paralympian* to be awarded the ‘Padma Shree’ in March 2012. (* Paralympian…. Paralympic sports person).

First Assistant Chief of Naval Staff ( Air Materiel ). July 2013 .

Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo assumed responsibility as the First Flag Officer of the newly created post of ‘ Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air Materiel)  [ACNS/AM] at the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) on Wednesday, July 17th, 2013.

This new post has been created with a single point responsibility for all matters related to aviation technical management of the rapidly growing air arm of the Indian Navy. He will have 3 sub-directorates looking at air logistics, plans/procurement and perspectives and systems engineering, as well as responsibilty for air technical manpower management.

Interestingly Rear Admiral Kanugo will report to the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chatterjee and not the Chief of Materiel, Vice Admiral N N Kumar. This is due to the inherently operational side imperative of air maintenance, which can present an operational tempo different to the other, more traditional arms of the Navy.

The air arm of the Indian Navy operates over 200 aircraft with over 20 different types including fighters, fixed wing maritime reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles etc.

New infrastructure needs of the Indian Navy which recently marked its Diamond Jubilee are being added with new air stations like INS Parundu in Ramnathapuram, INS Baaz in Campbell Bay and several other multiple enclaves across the country. The Air arm of the Indian Navy is growing at a fast pace and the Indian Navy is not restricted to just being a Green Water Navy. ( Green Water means the fleet comprises only battle ships while the Blue Water Navy includes the possession of aircraft as well ).

Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo grew up in Hyderabad and did his schooling in many places in the State including a local government school and in Nagarjunasagar. He pursued his Engineering in JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur. He joined the Indian Navy via his selection to ‘Indian Navy’s University Entry Scheme’ wherein his final years fees was paid by the Navy. Commissioned in 1981 he opted for the aviation stream of the Indian Navy, while the other two streams being submarine and ships. He pursued his Masters from the Institute of Armament Technology, Pune

During his 32 years of commissioned services in the Indian Navy – Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo has been Director of the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology at Kochi. The Chief Controller of Naval Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service. He held the post of Commodore Superintendent Naval Aircraft Yard – Kochi. He was also the Chief Staff Officer(Technical)at the Headquarter Naval Aviation, and the Principal Director at the Directorate of Naval Air Materiel at the Head Quarter, Ministry of Defence(Navy).

He was awarded Vishist Sewa Medal (VSM) in 2013 for his outstanding service and contribution to the Indian Navy.

First Indian Crowned ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ at Staten Island, NY . July 2013 .

Nina Davuluri, a Syracuse, NY native was crowned as ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ making her the first Indian to be crowned ‘ Miss New York ‘.

The 24-year old winner Nina Davuluri was crowned by Miss America Mallory Hagan and her predecessor Miss New York Shannon Oliver during a specatular production at the stately St.George Theatre in Staten Island, New York on Saturday July 13th, 2013. Nina Davuluri was attired in a floor length evening gown of light yellow.

Davuluri embraced her culture performing a bollywood dance as her talent. In overcoming her obstacles Nina lost 60 pounds in the last 2 years and did it all with the help of her sponsor and trainer Tia Falcone. ” Just to be on that stage and show everyone how hard I’ve worked to achieve this, just meant the world to me ” says Davuluri. She plans to use the $10,000 she won in scholarship money to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor.

Nina is working closely with the ‘Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ to raise funds for the local children’s hospitals.

As Miss New York she will now represent the Empire State, at the forthcoming ‘ Miss America pageant ‘ at the Atlantic City. Th final night of the Pageant competition and the crowning of ‘ Miss America ‘ is scheduled for September 15th. The event will be broadcase at 9pm ET/PT on ABC television network.

www.missny.org/missny2013/ – Miss New York Organization., Inc.

India’s First ‘ Confucius Institute ‘ . July 2013 .

India’s first ‘Confucius Institute’ was inaugrated at the Kalinga campus in Santa Cruz, Mumbai by Mumbai University and Tianjin University of Technology (TUT), People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Thursday – July 18th, 2013.

The Confucius Institute (CI) will initiate a Chinese language course, promote art and culture in India . It will also start a student and faculty exchange programme between the two nations.

A symbolic plaque was unveiled by Rajesh Tope, Minister for Higher & Technical Education. Also present at the occasion were Padamalkar Valvi – Minister of Sports & Youth Welfare, Meng Qingong – Chairman of TUT Board and Liu Youfa, Consul-General of People’s Republic of China (PRC)in Mumbai.

The Confucius Institute, once set-up will be headed by 2 officials, one from Mumbai University and the other from TUT or Hanban. Once Indian teachers learn Chinese, they will then go to China and teach Hindi and English language to the Chinese students and teachers.

Confucius Institutes (CI) headquarters are located in Beijing. They are non-profit public institutions aligned with the Government of the People’s Republic of China that aim to promote language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges. The CI programme is overseen by the Office of the Chinese Language International (Hanban).