Good morning, Bengaluru!
☀️ Today’s weather: Sunny with clear skies.
🧐 Did you know? Rajeshwari Chatterjee, an Indian scientist and academic, was the first woman from Karnataka to become an engineer. She studied at Central College and worked at IISc, Bengaluru.
🛫 Airport passenger numbers soar
Bengaluru’s airport reported substantial growth in passenger numbers in 2022-23.
Story so far: With 31.91 million people travelling through the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), the passenger numbers have grown by 96% in 2022-23 compared to the previous financial year.
- Of the total number of passengers making their way through KIA, 28.12 million flew domestic and 3.78 million were international passengers.
- The chief strategy and development officer of the Bengaluru International Airport Limited said that the highlights of last year were the launch of Qantas’ service to Sydney and daily Airbus A380 services to Dubai by Emirates.
Tell me more? KIA connects to 100 destinations – 75 across India and 25 international linkages. For two consecutive years, it’s been the number-one airport in India for processing perishable cargo. In the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24, it’s achieved a 50.8% overall growth in air traffic movements.
🙋 How can residents help Indiranagar improve?
Indiranagar’s residents gather with stationery supplies and a head full of ideas to improve the area.
Story so far: On Saturday, residents of Indiranagar gathered at the Max Mueller Bhavan to discuss the issues affecting the area and brainstorm possible solutions. They plan to inform the next legislator for Indiranagar of their findings.
- Waste management and increasing garbage from restaurants and hawkers were on the agenda.
- Residents devised possible punishments for contravening waste segregation and management, like fines, penalties, and suspension of the offenders’ commercial licenses.
Tell me more? Besides waste management, the residents also discussed security, better infrastructure, public toilets, and footpaths. About the latter, the consensus was that they were either too narrow or trespassed upon.
🔍 Copper-plated past
A copper plate helped linguists at BORI establish the historical realities of the Chalukya dynasty.
Story so far: Recently, linguists at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune found historical evidence for the literary contributions of Shilabhattarika, a poet and the daughter of Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II.
- The linguists made the historical inference through one of five copper plates that had over 60 sentences in Sanskrit written in the Brahmi script. The owner, Amit Lomte, is a local who presented it to BORI.
- It’s the first hard historical evidence that establishes Shilabhattarika as a poet. It also adds vital information on the Chalukyas’ cultural, political, and literary history.
Why it matters? Archaeologists, linguists, and historians studying the Asian region often use copper plates to reconstruct history. These plates are often inscribed with orders of kings.
📲 Highest digital transactions
While Bengaluru logs the highest number of digital transactions, rural Karnataka’s share remains meagre.
Story so far: Bengaluru ranks first in the tally of digital transactions within cities. Worldline India’s report records the transactions in terms of volume at 29 million and in terms of value at ₹6,500 crore. Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, and Chennai trail behind, forming the top five.
- Unified Payments Interface (UPI) remained the most dominant digital payments platform, with a 70% growth in the number of transactions and a 54% growth in value.
- UPI Person-to-Merchant (P2M) and Person-to-Person (P2P) was the most fancied form of payment. Interestingly, P2P transactions accounted for 66% of digital transactions, whereas P2M transactions consolidated an 18% share.
Why though? One reason for the growth of UPI payments is the mass proliferation of quick response (QR) codes. Importantly, this growth is uneven. The total share of digital transactions in rural Karnataka is only 7-10%.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you use a smartwatch?
- Yes, I use a smartwatch.
- No, I don’t use a smartwatch.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Colourful murals by transwomen on voter awareness adorn walls at CEO’s office.
- Bengaluru hospitals ramp up Covid bed allocation despite low admissions.
- Saahas Zero Waste celebrates five years of material recovery facility.
- KR Pura’s IT corridor with infra woes may pose a hurdle for Urban Development Minister Byrathi.
- Read Sania Mirza’s interview about her life and favourite players from Royal Challengers Bangalore.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I like cardio workouts: 57.1% 🏆
- I don’t like cardio workouts: 42.9%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Are you using ChatGPT in your work? If yes, what are you using it for?
Sriranga: “Unofficially yes, for TL;DRing large documents.”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!