Limca Book of Records honours COVID-19 frontline workers, innovators in latest edition

PTI, Sep 20, 2021, 4:02 PM IST

A special edition of the ”Limca Book of Records” (LBR) honours the undefeated spirit of COVID-19 frontline workers and innovators who helped the country with their selfless acts.

Released on Monday, the book pays tribute to accomplishments in ”human endeavour, structures, education, defence, government, science and technology, adventure, business, cinema, the natural world, literature, and the arts”. The book, which completed its 30 years of publication in 2021, puts spotlight on the Vande Bharat mission — the world’s largest repatriation exercise; Noccarc Robotics, a start-up by Nikhil Kurele and Harshit Rathore developed low-cost portable ventilators; Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) developed Covaxin while the Serum Institute of India manufactured Covishield. According to publishing house Hachette India, the 2020-22 combined edition also celebrates the achievements of India’s green warriors for sustainability campaigns, waste management and recycling among other environment-friendly missions.

”Along with fascinating new records, the 2020-22 edition also includes Record Rewind capsules of earlier records and Super 30 features highlighting milestones and achievements over the past three decades,” they said in a statement. Launched in India in 1990, LBR, an Indian equivalent of Guinness World Records, focuses on the unique achievements of Indians within the country and worldwide. ”Despite the interruptions and disruptions of the past two years, the Limca Book of Records is back and is celebrating a landmark. I am particularly delighted that I was part of this journey from inception of the book and am now once again a part of its journey as it leaves 30 editions behind. India at its best marches on,” said Thomas Abraham, managing director, Hachette India, who was also the former project editor LBR (1988–94).

From Major D P Singh becoming the first differently-abled skydiver from Asia and Mayank Nagpal the first to complete BASE jumps during day and night, to Narthaki Nataraj as the first trans person to be awarded the Padma Shri, the latest edition features over 4,000 individual and group records in a range of fields.

”This year’s edition of LBR marks a great milestone. Right from its inception, LBR received instant recognition across multiple fields and instilled a ray of hope among people,” said Vijaya Ghose, editor emeritus, LBR