Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik wins People's Choice Award in US

Agencies
July 28, 2019

New York, Jul 28: Renowned Indian sand artist and Padma Awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik has won the People's Choice Award at a prestigious sand sculpting festival in the US, wowing the American public with his sculpture that highlighted the message of combating plastic pollution in oceans.

Pattnaik was among the 15 top sand artists selected from across the world to participate in the 2019 Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. He won the People's Choice Award for his sand sculpture 'Stop Plastic Pollution, Save Our Ocean'.

"This is a very big award and honour for me in the US. This award is for India, which is also doing a great deal to beat plastic pollution" and raise awareness on this very important matter, Pattnaik told PTI over phone from Boston.

The award-winning sculpture showed a turtle caught in a plastic bag and a fish with plastic trash such as slippers, bottles and glass inside its body. The tail of the fish is in the mouth of a human, signifying how plastic pollution in the oceans is adversely impacting human beings also when they consume sea food.

"Thousands of people voting for my sculpture that highlights the problem of plastic pollution underscores that the public too is concerned about our oceans getting polluted and supports the urgent need to take action to save our oceans and planet," said Pattnaik, who is known to convey social messages and themes through his art.

Amid loud cheers and applause, Pattnaik received the People's Choice medal from Revere Beach Partnership Board Member Adrienne Sacco-Maguire during an award ceremony.

The Odisha-native said that through his sculpture he wants to highlight that human activity is destroying the oceans and humans are also getting impacted by polluted waterways as they consume food from the sea and rivers.

Describing the award as very special, Pattnaik said, "this award is not only for me but for the people. This is a public awareness sculpture. Those who have voted for my sculpture have voted for action on plastic pollution."

Several Indians also showed up at the festival with the Indian tricolour and extended their support for Pattnaik, who expressed gratitude to the Indian Consulate General in New York and its officials for their support.

Congratulating Pattnaik on the win, India's Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty said, "we are delighted that our very own Sudarsan has won the People's Choice Award at this prestigious world event."

Chakravorty thanked the Indian Community of Greater Boston area and all over US for their support, saying the theme of Pattnaik's sculpture Stop Plastic Pollution, Save Our Ocean' is very topical and relevant and has resonated with the public. Yet another feather in the cap of our genius from the holy City of Jagannath Puri."

Hosted by non-profit organisation Revere Beach Partnership, the festival, now in its 16th year, ran from July 26-28 and was attended by close to a million people.

One of the largest sand sculpting festivals in the world, it sees participation from leading sand sculptors from around the world. Pattnaik was the sole representative from India and Asia. Artists from Belgium and Canada also won at the prestigious championship.

 

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Tehran, Mar 15: Two hundred and thirty-four Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Iran have arrived in India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.

The batch comprises 131 students and 103 pilgrims, he said.

“234 Indians stranded in Iran have arrived in India; including 131 students and 103 pilgrims. Thank you Ambassador Dhamu Gaddam and @India_in_Iran team for your efforts. Thank Iranian authorities,” Jaishankar tweeted.

The third batch of Indians from Iran arrived early Sunday. A second batch of 44 Indian pilgrims had arrived from Iran on Friday.

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working on plans to bring back Indians stranded there.

The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran on Tuesday.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Geneva, Jun 24: The global cumulative count of confirmed coronavirus cases is approaching nine million, with 133,326 cases recorded over the past day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in its daily situation report on Tuesday.

Over the past 24 hours, 3,847 people died from COVID-19 worldwide, taking the cumulative death toll to 469,587 fatalities, according to the report.

The global case total has now reached 8,993,659.

The Americas still account for the majority of cases and deaths -- 4.4 million and 224,207, respectively.

The United States remains the country with the highest count of cases and fatalities -- 2.3 million and 119,761, respectively.

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Agencies
July 24,2020

The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 15.4 million, while the deaths have increased to over 631,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Friday morning, the total number of cases stood at 15,439,456, while the fatalities rose to 631,926, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 4,034,831 and 144,242, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 2,287,475 infections and 84,082 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (1,238,798), and is followed by Russia (793,720), South Africa (408,052), Peru (371,096), Mexico (370,712), Chile (334,683), the UK (298,721), Iran (284,034), Spain (270,166), Pakistan (269,191), Saudi Arabia (260,394), Italy (245,338), Turkey (223,315), Colombia (218,428), France (216,667), Bangladesh (216,110), Germany (204,881), Argentina (148,027), Canada (114,398), Qatar (108,244) and Iraq (102,226), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (45,639), Mexico (41,908), Italy (35,092), France (30,185), India (29,861), Spain (28,429), Iran (15,074), Peru (17,654) and Russia (12,873).

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