Page 80 - Plastics News September 2016

IN THE NEWS
Delhi Student makes Plastic cup
pyramid breaks world record
Kushagra Taya, a second-year Economics (Hons) student from
Hans Raj College (HRC), Delhi set a world record by making
the world's largest plastic cup pyramid, measuring 25ft, and
using 57,000 cups. The earlier record was held by a team
from Mexico, which used 43,000 plastic cups. This was my
fourth attempt Kushagra said he wanted to see his name in
the book, but didn't know how to go about it. "I didn't know
what I'd do, but I wanted to break a record. I started looking
up past records, the process and the guidelines. Initially, I had
attempted three records, this was my fourth attempt. I had
applied to break the record for the longest drum marathon,
but that involved me having to play the drums for seven days
continuously, and due to my back issues, I couldn't do it. I'm
also a national level badminton player, so to break that record,
I was expected to play for two days straight, which was also
impossible. Third, I had to build a structure out of plastic
cups, but I didn't get selected for that as well."
Asked how the idea of building a pyramid came about, he
said, "I was sitting in college and sipping a cup of coffee one
day. I thought, 'Can we do something with this cup?' I went
back home and searched for records that can be attempted
with cups. Then the pyramid option came up and I decided
to apply for it."
He added, "Initially, I had started the project with two of
my friends, but because the project was big, we involved
more people from college. I conducted interviews, and got
24 students on board. I started practising at home along with
my family members, aur ek baar maine ceiling paar kar di.
So I shifted to a badminton academy to practise. My parents
also got involved, they started enjoying it. They thought, 'Yeh
toh aaram se ho jayega'."
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PCPIR policy needs fine
tuning says Ananth Kumar
Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemical
Investment Regions (PCPIRs) policy launched
in 2007 to promote investment in petroleum
and petrochemical sector, needs ?ne tuning to
make it more pragmatic and practical, according
to Ananth Kumar, Minister for Chemicals &
Fertilizers.
I n d u s t r y,
especially the
downstream
sectors that
require
petrochemicals
as raw materials
for production,
has been raising
the issue of shortage of feedstock in the country.
Touted as game-changer for Indian chemical and
petrochemicals industry, the PCPIR policy was
launch with an aim to attract investments worth
around $ 100 billion in these regions. PCPIRs were
to be formed speci?cally to attract investments for
establishing production facilities for petroleum,
chemicals and petrochemicals. However, the
policy has failed to deliver desired results. Of the
?ve approved PCPIRs, only Dahej (Gujarat) PCPIR
has made considerable progress, while rest have
failed to take off.
Addressing the inaugural function of India Chem
2016 Ananth Kumar requested the industry leaders
and experts to offer suggestions over the next
one month to make the policy more vibrant.
“India’s long coastline, large re?ning capacity
and a satisfactory R&D capacity are the strengths
for the growth of the chemical industry, but
observed that ease of doing business still needs
to improve further. Imports from China and South
East Asia continue to dominate, as raw material
cost and availability pose challenges for domestic
businesses,” he added.