Cusat to collaborate with South Korean university for research
The Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) will collaborate with the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea, on a project aimed at studying the impact of air pollution on human health.
The project was bagged under the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to improve the research ecosystem of higher educational institutions in the country by facilitating academic and research collaborations with noted foreign institutions.
Prof. Usha K. Aravind, School of Environmental Studies, Cusat, and Prof. Taiha Joo from POSTECH are the lead investigators, according to a communication. Through diverse biophysical techniques, including vitro experiments, the programme endeavours to uncover the fundamental mechanisms underlying the biological impacts of air pollutants on human health.
NHRC nod
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has given its approval to a research proposal submitted by Cusat on the issue of human rights in the realm of sports.
The project is titled ‘A study on the mechanisms adopted by sports bodies to combat human rights abuse and an examination of the legal policy framework along with the status of implementation in Kerala.’
Dr. Ajith Mohan, Deputy Director and Head, Department of Physical Education, is the Principal Investigator. The NHRC has approved an assistance of ₹11.6 lakh for one year of research. The research team will conduct an indepth analysis of the mechanisms employed by sports bodies to address human rights abuses, with specic focus on Kerala.
“The coast is our space, we must reclaim it,” says Antony Kurishinkal, veteran sherman, champion of shers’ rights, and an irrepressible student of the sea.
At 45, he has been a sherman for over three decades. He understands how thousands like him tame or ride the waves at great personal risk to earn a livelihood and strive to pass an unblemished sea to the next generation, as precious as a family heirloom.
Speaking from Karwar coast in Karnataka on Wednesday, he said he was on a two-month bicycle trip along the west coast of India to create awareness among the shing community about their rights and rightful place. “The coast is the shers’ inheritance. It must be reclaimed for the community to spread its wings,” he said after completing 15 days of the trip, alone on a bicycle from Arthunkal in Alappuzha district.
He feels that the coasts are being handed over on a platter to development activities, while their traditional safe-keepers are being alienated from the only space they have. “The coast is not only a space for making a living. It is a mental space, where shermen are free to expand their horizons, express their longings and share their dreams,” he added. Mr. Antony’s coastal trip to meet shermen like him has taken him to some of the least known shing harbours in the country, where shermen tell the same story. He said the coastal people’s hardships were going to increase as the traditionally rich coastal waters and their resources would become the property of large companies. He pointed to how tourism projects had ¥ourished along the coast leaving little space for shermen.
Instead of standing stupeed before the new developments, the shermen must use this rude awakening to join hands to ght the monopolies that have