Uppinangady students win National Geographic Explorer Award at Google Science Fair in USA
The duo bagged cash prize of $15,000
Uppinangady: Two students of Indraprasad PU College Uppinangady were awarded National Geographic Explorer Award at the Google Science Fair 2018-19 that was held in California, USA at Google headquarters.
Both the students Nichiketh Kumar and Aman KA are the students of science stream in the college. Their Science teacher K Nichita was also awarded as the 'Inspiring Educator' at the fair for guiding the duo.
The Google Science Fair invites science research from global arena, selects, 1,000 research findings in the first phase of submitted science research. 100 teams are the selected as per the criterion. Out of these 100 teams, 20 teams are selected as Global Finalists and are invited to the Google Science Fair Awards in California, USA.
The final winners are awarded a cash prize of $50,000 at the end of the fair which was bagged by Ireland's Fion Perera this year.
The duo of Nachiketh and Aman bagged the National Geographic Explorer Award for their research on environment. The duo was awarded cash prize of $15,000.
The Science teacher and mentor of the duo was awarded the Inspiring Educator award, an awarded which is conferred to the best mentor of the teams every year.
Four out 20 global finalist teams at the fair belonged to India.
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Tribal man brings dead sister's skeleton to bank to withdraw money from her account
Keonjhar (PTI): A tribal man in Odisha's Keonjhar district on Monday brought the skeleton of his dead sister to a bank to withdraw the money deposited in her name, police said.
The incident occurred at Maliposi branch of Odisha Grameen Bank located at Patana block of Keonjhar district. The man was identified as Jeetu Munda (50) of Dianali village. He was seeking to withdraw Rs 20,000 from the bank account of his elder sister, Kalra Munda (56), who died on January 26, 2026.
"I have run several times to the bank, and the people there told me to bring the account holder to withdraw money deposited in her name. Though I told them that she had died, they did not listen to me and insisted on bringing her to the bank. Therefore, out of frustration, I dug the grave and brought out her skeleton as proof of her death," an illiterate Jeetu Munda told reporters.
Patana Police Station Inspector in charge (IIC) Kiran Prasad Sahu, who reached the bank after getting information, said, "Jeetu is an illiterate tribal man. He does not know what the legal heir or nominee is. The bank officials have failed to make him understand the procedure to withdraw money from the dead person's account."
However, after the incident, the police assured Jeetu Munda that they would facilitate the withdrawal of money from the bank account of his dead sister. Later, the skeleton was again buried at the graveyard in presence of police.
Meanwhile, local Block Development Officer (BDO) Manas Dandpat said that he was not approached by anyone for the legal heir of late Kalra Munda. "Today only, I came to know about it. We will see what can be done to resolve the issue," the BDO said.
Meanwhile, bank sources said that the nominee in Kalra Munda's bank account was also dead. Therefore, Jeetu Munda was the lone claimant over the money deposited in her name.
The local administration has directed the bank officers to make arrangements and ensure that Jeetu Munda, who is the only claimant as per the rules, gets the money as soon as possible.
