• prepare comprehensive reports.
  
• practice objectivity in writing.
  
• arrange ideas coherently and intelligibly in a report.
  
• prepare reports according to purpose and audience.

Reports are a written record of what one has seen, done, heard or looked into. Reports consist of well-organised and methodical presentation of facts and results from an event. Reports are often for a particular audience and of events that have already occurred. The common type of reports are the ones we watch in newspapers and magazines. There are also reports that are created for businesses and research purposes. Although newspaper reports and magazine reports are short, there are reports that run into many pages and are published like a book. Technical reports and many official reports are of this nature.

On 10 November 2021, St. Antony’s College, Thiruvananthapuram, organized a science exhibition. The exhibition was organized in connection with World Science Day for Peace and Development which is annually held on November 10th to raise awareness on the benefits of science worldwide. Ms Sreeja Raghav, the renowned scientist was the chief guest for the day. The exhibition started at 10:00 a.m. and was open to the students and their parents. It was conducted in three different venues in the college which consisted of two exhibition halls and the college auditorium.

The program started with the principal of the school delivering a commencement speech and announcing that the three best exhibits would be selected for regional level exhibition which was to be held in a month’s time. As the exhibition started. students from various departments presented their projects. Each project was the work of at least ten students. However, the presentation of the project was done by two students at a time. The major themes covered included space technology, EV technology, solar energy, artificial intelligence, internet of things and robotics. Just before the exhibition was opened to the students, Ms Sreeja Raghav and the Principal went around looking at the different models designed by the students and listened to the descriptions and asked them questions. This was followed by the students and parents seeing the projects, and clarifying their doubts. The exhibition had models of the projects and also visual representations of the concepts behind the projects. These were prepared on charts and some were also presented on laptops. Ms. Raghav delivered a small speech on the importance of science and also congratulated the students on their effort in preparing the projects.

There was a team of four professors who were the official judges for the day and they announced three prizes in the end. Prakash Rajan, first year Chemistry student won the first prize. Jayden, first year student from the Department of Maths won the second prize and Mia Joseph, second year student Commerce student won the third prize. The three students were given prices at the end of the program by the Principal and all the participants were given certificates and mementos for their effort. The exhibition came to an end at 4:00 p.m.

Aditi Gupta, 01 November 2021

India experienced extreme weather events between January and September this year which claimed 2,755 human lives and 69,000 animals across the country. A latest report by India’s environment think tank Centre for Science and Environment said that the “worse is happening now” with each month experiencing extreme weather days be it heatwaves, coldwaves, heavy rainfall, flooding, lightning, storms, cyclones, cloudburst and snowfall in different regions in the country through various seasons.

According to the report titled ‘The State of Extreme Weather 2022’, which analyzed extreme weather events in India in its first 273 days this year, more than 400,000 houses and 1.8 million hectares of cropland was damaged by weather disasters. During a webinar ahead of the international climate conference COP 27 scheduled to begin on November 7 in Egypt, CSE Director General Sunita Narain said the extreme weather disasters were the “revenge of nature” and an impact of climate change.

Presenting the report, its authors Rajit Sengupta and Kiran Pandey said that on 241 out of the 273 days in 2022, India experienced extreme weather events. While on 159 days the country saw lightning and storms, there was heavy rainfall, floods and landslides on 157 days, heatwaves on 66 days, coldwaves on 30 days, cloudburst on 11 days and snowfall on two days. These events also claimed several lives.

Around 1214 human lives were claimed by heavy rain, floods and landslides between June and September with north-eastern state of Assam being hit the worst with 221 deaths followed by central India’s Madhya Pradesh with 112 deaths. Nearly 954 people were killed due to lightning and storm between July and September with Madhya Pradesh recording maximum deaths at 164 followed by Maharashtra at 94.
The report said that India recorded 66 days of heatwaves which claimed 45 lives with the early onset in March until July. The western state of Rajasthan was worst hit by heatwaves which lasted 42 days followed by Maharashtra with 24 days of heatwaves and 34 deaths. Rajasthan did not record any death due to heatwave, the report said.

The country also experienced cold waves or cold days for 30 days with 22 days in January and eight days in February in two states and Union Territories. While Madhya Pradesh had 21 days of cold waves, it lasted for 20 days in Uttar Pradesh. No lives were claimed.
The 11 days of cloudburst killed 33 people in four states with maximum deaths in Himachal Pradesh at 12. Two places – Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh experienced snowfall which lasted two days in the entire 273 days and claimed a total of eight lives. While one person died in Jammu and Kashmir, seven deaths were recorded in Arunachal Pradesh.

“While January saw cooler daytime temperatures, February remained almost half a degree colder than normal, resulting in 30 cold wave days and 12 hailstorm days. January was also abnormally wet. It was the seventh wettest since 1901 while February was drier than normal,” said Kiran Pandey, Programme Director, Environment Resource Unit, CSE. (www.wionews.com)