User:Editlover111/sandbox

The Shasthra Snehi is a non-governmental organization founded in 2020 that works in the field of science popularization, education, charity, environmental protection, research and development. Started as a science news portal during the global pandemic lockdown due to Covid-19, it has developed into an NGO with three core teams having volunteers all over India, working with the same objective. The name Shasthra Snehi stands for "Science Lover".

= Mission = Shasthra Snehi aims to promotes science and scientific ideas by conducting various online and offline activities all over India. It is a very young science NGO in the country. It has three branches working under them, known as the ‘Wings of Shasthra’. Media and Science news portal wing, Education and Social Service wing, Research and Development wing (R&D Wing) are the three wings under Shasthra Snehi. The team under Shasthra Snehi also works in collaboration with different organizations, giving importance to Indian science, especially astronomy and astrophysics.

= Events = According to the information available from their official website, Shasthra Snehi provides internships under each 'Wings of Shasthra'. During the global pandemic lockdown due to Covid-19, education and social service wing of the organization conducts online activities include online science quiz shows and webinars with faculties from famous national and international institutes. Their first webinar started on August 9. The topic of the webinar was "Black holes through different windows". Speaker of that webinar was Dr. Ajith Parameswaran, ICTS-TIFR, Bangalore. They are also providing a facility for the public to attend the webinars even after the live by watching it through YouTube. Given below are the webinars conducted by them during the lockdown time.


 * 1) August 9 - "Black holes through different windows".  Speaker: Dr. Ajith Parameswaran, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of     Fundamental Research, Bangalore.
 * 2) September 12 - Topic: "How Scientists are Looking for Aliens?".  Speaker: Dr Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI, Institute in California.
 * 3) October 18 - Topic: "Cosmic Fireworks: Ultimate demise of exotic stars"  Speaker: Prof. (Dr.) Poonam Chandra, Associate Professor - G, Tata     Institute of Fundamental Research, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune.
 * 4) January 17 - Topic: "ADULT NEUROGENESIS-The Potential of Neural Stem cells in the Adult Brain".  Speaker: Dr. Hiyaa Ghosh,  Assistant Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore.

According to a news report about Shasthra Snehi in The Hindu, the media and science news portal wing of Shasthra Snehi about to launch their sister blogs, where the members can write in their own regional language. As per the information from their website they will start their offline activities only by the end of the ongoing vaccination procedures within the country.

= History =

Shasthra Snehi was founded by a physics graduate named Arun S and Abhijith Prakash Mangattu, who is currently working with the ministry of education, UAE. They started it all from a Malayalam science blog with the name Shasthra Snehi (Science Lover), whose writers were the participants of a course on astrophysics and cosmology conducted by Amateur Astronomers Organization (AASTRO) in Thiruvananthapuram in 2018. At the time of lock down they shifted from blogger to new platform and made an English science news portal in the same name "Shasthra Snehi". At the time of its first wing (Media and Science News Portal) founding in 2020 may 1st, it was just a 30-member group of writers consisting of amateur astronomers, but within the next 2 months after website launch, 300+ science writers from all over India consisting of college professors, school teachers, engineers, doctors, school and college students joined the team.

On July 17, 'The Hindu' news paper featured an article about the science news portal of Shasthra Snehi in all India edition newspaper with the headline "By the nerds, for the nerds". The appreciations received from all over India motivated them to think in the next level to extend their activity by registering as an all India NGO and launching other two wings. It is currently run by Arun S, Executive Director of Shasthra Snehi, Abhijith Prakash Mangattu, the Deputy Director and Dr. Anand Narayan, the resource person and advisor of the organization.

= References =

= External link = Official Webiste