Waltair DRM Chandralekha Mukherjee inaugurating the WIPS Foundation Day celebrations at the Steel Plant in Visakhapatnam on Friday. RINL CMD P Madhusudan and other directors are seen | EPS
Visakhapatnam :
Divisional railway manager, Waltair, Chandralekha Mukherjee said that modern women were very competitive and had strong presence in society. She exhorted women employees to work with discipline, and work hard with commitment to scale greater heights in their profession.
Chandralekha was the chief guest at the Women in Public Sector (WIPS) formation day celebrations held at Ukkunagaram Friday. Sharing her experiences, she said government departments and PSUs were actively empowering and supporting women’s growth. If women prove their worth, the system would automatically support them. The spread of education and western thinking were rapidly aiding women, she said. Chandralekha appreciated the social support activities of WIPS and the encouragement provided by the RINL management.
RINL CMD P Madhusudan complimented WIPS cell for the laurels it won at the national level and promised support to women in career development, initiation of women supportive policies, training and other infrastructure support.
He said that the WIPS was one of the active divisions of the company and expressed pleasure that women employees at the RINL were working in critical operation areas with dedication and commitment.
Directors (Projects) PC Mohapatra, (Personnel) GBS Prasad, (Operations) DN Rao and (Finance) TVS Krishna Kumar of the RINL and Visteel Mahila Samiti vice-president C Gargeyi were present.
On the occasion, AGM (QA) G Seshamma, who received PhD and the MESA award from Andhra University for her technical paper on treatment of industrial water, and another official Ramya who secured 893 rank in civil services, were felicitated by Chandralekha Mukherjee and P Madhusudan.
DGM (HR) and WIPS coordinator V Padmavathi presented the coordinator’s report and expressed her gratitude to the management for its all-round support. She also stated that the management had accorded permission to organise the 26th National Meet of WIPS in Visakhapatnam on February 12 and 13, 2016.
Earlier, forewoman Annapoorna rendered the invocation song. The programme was conducted by junior manager V Soumya and general secretary C Sheeba Rani conducted the felicitation proceedings. WIPS vice-president Ruchira Guptha and deputy manager Kameswari were present.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / August 15th, 2015
Andhra Pradesh is expected to make strides globally through its ‘Make in India – Made in AP’ programme by manufacturing smartphones in the State.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will launch the first Xiaomi-manufactured phone in India in Visakhapatnam on Monday. The programme will also see Xiaomi making some key announcements about its India expansion plans.
Ahead of this event, a hoarding put up by Xiaomi with ‘Make in India’ logo at Visakhapatnam airport, followed by a Facebook post, led to speculation that the Chinese cellphone maker might set up its first India plant in the port city.
Xiaomi, a Chinese low-cost smartphone-manufacturer, is the third largest smartphone-maker in the world, following Samsung and Apple. “Following the Chief Minister Naidu’s visit to China earlier this year, Xiaomi has come to Visakhapatnam to launch its first made-in-India smartphone and announce its plans for the country. We are expecting a key announcement from the Chinese low-cost smartphone-manufacturer on Monday,” said a senior official.
Given that global smartphone sales are estimated to grow from 1.5 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion by 2017 and India will become the second largest smartphone market by 2017, Xiaomi is looking to expand its presence and increase its market share in the country. During the programme in Visakhapatnam on Monday, Manu Jain, CEO Xiaomi India, will deliver the welcome address while Hugo Barra, Vice-President (Global) Xiaomi, will brief the audience on the ‘Journey of Xiaomi in India.’
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home>States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / August 10th, 2015
IT Minister to inaugurate incubation tower in Tirupati on Aug. 5
Close to a year after the launch of AP Innovation and Start Up policy, Andhra Pradesh is taking steady and firm steps towards becoming the breeding State for start up companies in the IT and IT enabled services and allied sectors.
With the two incubator towers in Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in place with reputed pilot incubators in charge, the third incubator tower in Tirupati will be inaugurated by IT Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy on August 5.
In Visakhapatnam incubator tower at Rishikonda built by APIIC started functioning in December, 2014 under the guidance of Kochi based pilot incubator Mob Mee Start Up village which pioneered the start-up concept.
In the last six months, 115 start-up companies have come up working on mobile applications and innovative product development ideas.
The mandate of the empanelled incubators is to promote the culture of innovation among the start-up units while the State is looking at creating world class eco-system and lay strong foundation to make a mark in IT product development, department sources said.
Recently Intel and C-Dac organised training programmes for the start-ups in Visakhapatnam working on ideas and products related to their domain expertise.
The government has also been extending some financial assistance to the pilot incubator on behalf of each start-up unit for organising training programmes and promoting the products and ideas once they reach a certain stage of development to attract venture capitalist and angel investors.
Of 50,000 sft space in the Vizag incubator tower, Mob Mee has taken up 15,000 sft while Govind Capital, Singapore based pilot incubator recently acquired 2,500 sft and has now six start-ups working in the facility. The Vizag facility is named as Technology, Research and Innovation Park.
The IT Department will have another five floor tower to be named Millennium Tower with three lakh sft space that will come up in a four-acre land adjacent to the Rishikonda incubation tower. The first two floors will be for start-up units and the rest of three floors will be allotted for companies.
In Kakinada where the incubation tower was inaugurated on June 30, the Bhubaneswar based private pilot incubator KIIT-TBI, already brought in 25 start-up companies.
A start-up unit comprising fresh and final year engineering graduates will take on an average of one-and-a-half year to two years to work on their product and idea before it attracts the attention of venture capitalists and angel investors, sources said.
IT Minister to inaugurate incubation tower in Tirupati on Aug. 5
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – August 01st, 2015
Scientists of Agricultural Research Station display MCM-103, a new paddy seed variety at Machilipatnam in Krishna District. Photo: T. Appala Naidu / The Hindu
The seed varieties developed by Principal Scientist T. Anuradha and Scientist K. Nagendra Rao are MCM 103, a Kharif variety and Rabi variety MCM110, which are sanity resistant.
Plant breeding scientists of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University’s Research Station at Machilipatnam have developed two new paddy seed varieties, exclusively meant for saline soil and the 10-year research has yielded expected results.
The seed varieties developed by Principal Scientist T. Anuradha and Scientist K. Nagendra Rao are MCM 103, a Kharif variety and Rabi variety MCM110. The duration of crop period of the varieties is 140 and 120 days respectively.
“The Directorate of Rice Research (DRR), Hyderabad, has tagged the MCM 103 as the best paddy seed variety among the 40 entries from across the country in 2013. The DRR has also tested the variety in the six states, where it gave expected results including yield and quality grain”, T. Anuradha told The Hindu.
“The MCM-103 seed variety gives nearly six tonnes of yield while the MCM-110 gives up to 5.5 tonnes per hectare”, she added. The scientists have claimed that the yield of the two varieties would arguably be much higher in the normal soil. Another Scientist K. Nagendra Rao added that the MCM 103 is being tested in the saline fields in the coastal Andhra districts from the ongoing Kharif season and the other variety would also be tested from the next Rabi season in the State.
The District Agricultural Advisory & Transfer of Technology Centre in the respective districts in the State had selected the fields to test the seed varieties from the Kharif-2015. “The medium duration paddy varieties will primarily encourage the farmers to turn the saline soil fields into cultivable fields. The varieties will also ensure better yield”, opined Ms. Anuradha.
Farmers indebted to scientists:
The farmers having saline soil are indebted to the scientists, said Ms. Anuradha and Mr. Nagendra Rao, who had developed two paddy seed varieties – MCM 100 and 101- in 2011. It has been proposed for seeking approval of the Andhra Pradesh State’s Seed Varietal Release Committee for final release of the two varieties into the market.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by T. Appala Naidu /Machilipatnam – July 31st, 2015
The exhibition of artefacts, old coins and stamps of various countries, organised by the Sri Kanakamahalakshmi Co-operative Bank Limited at Akkayyapalem here received good response.
On the bank’s 16th anniversary, the management organised the expo by displaying various artefacts and a large number of vintage items.
Bank CEO K Syam Kishore explained the various schemes.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / July 11th, 2015
The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs has recognised a start-up company, Runway Labz Private Limited, started by students of the Aditya Institute of Technology and Management-Tekkali, as the youngsters could successfully begin training programmes in Robotics and Embedded Systems for the schoolchildren.
The students of the college have also started other start-up companies as such as Heartnote, Flashmart, Me-Developers, Donors4U, Indian Springs, PCNM Tutorials and Indian Automation with the support of the State government which has been promoting start-up programmes as part of developing engineering graduates as entrepreneurs.
AITAM College director V.V. Nageswara Rao said that great personalities like Ratan Tata were investing in start-up companies to encourage the youngsters who began new companies with innovative thoughts.
“Flashmart start-up concentrates on local business and Heartynote social media website aims to record all the memorable events. These new start-ups are expected to be recognised by the Union government very shortly,” he added.
Principal of the college K.V. Madhu Sahu and Leadership Foundation head P. Sai Vijay said that the new ideas of the students have been encouraged by setting up incubation centre in the college. “Academic knowledge has to be converted as entrepreneurial skills. So, start-up companies will make them as business leaders in future,” Mr. Madhu Sahu said.
The college management has decided to provide more financial assistance to the students to do more research on innovative thoughts and converting them as start-up companies.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Srikakulam – July 08th, 2015
After nearly two decades, the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) is re-entering the coffee sector in the Visakha Agency again and is targeting marketing around 2,000 metric tonnes of coffee procured from small tribal farmers in the Visakha Agency this year.
According to records, there are around one lakh tribals cultivating on nearly 96,337 acres and producing around 6,500 metric tonnes of coffee every year, which fetches around Rs 65 crore. With GCC’s support, the farmers are expected to earn around Rs 91 crore.
GCC has already identified 14 godowns to store the coffee stocks in the Agency and collection of material will start from December this year. It plans to set up one procurement centre each at the village level and two big centres each at the mandal level. GCC has already initiated awareness campaigns in each hamlet in June, inviting coffee growing farmers to enroll their names.
The corporation plans to register the data such as names of farmers, bank account numbers and Aadhaar number in July and August. It is likely to recruit separate manpower for coffee-related activities in September.
“The output and price realization in the Agency areas is very low due to improper harvesting techniques and marketing. If we provide guidance to coffee growing farmers in harvesting and marketing the produce, they will surely benefit. Currently, farmers get a very low price for their produce. If we market the same stocks, their earnings will increase by nearly 40% as we will ensure that each farmer gets the maximum price for his produce. GCC will be taking care of marketing the coffee from this financial year,” GCC managing director A Ravi Prakash said.
“GCC will take care of the pruning, curing, transport and auction of coffee. GCC will bear the entire cost of this and will be reimbursed by the government later. The state government will give Rs 25 crore initially and the Coffee Board will give a subsidy too. GCC will an organized marketing platform for small farmers,” he said.
This is not the first time that GCC is involved in the coffee sector. It had floated the Girijan Plantation Cooperative Development Corporation (GPCDC) in 1986 and developed 40,000 acres of plantation. However, GPCDC wound up its activities in 1997 and the plantation area was distributed among farmers and ITDA staff, sources said.
Meanwhile, the state government has also announced that GCC will provide marketing support for the Paderu Coffee Project, under which the government will invest Rs 526.16 crore in adding another one lakh acres under coffee plantations in the next 10 years. The project was announced by chief minister Chandrababu Naidu on October 17 last year after Cyclone Hudhud and a GO was released by the tribal welfare department last month.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / July 03rd, 2015
A view of the Thotapalli Reservoir in Vizianagaram district | EXPRESS PHOTO
Vizianagaram / Srikakulam :
After more than a decade, the farmers of the ayacut area of Thotapalli reservoir are overjoyed that their dreams of irrigating their lands would be finally realised. The much-delayed Thotapalli project, except for minor works, has been completed and the Irrigation Department is making arrangements to release the waters from the reservoir in the third week of July.
Thousands of farmers and their families of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts are excited about prospects of receiving Thotapalli reservoir waters to kick-start the kharif season. The farmers who come under the project ayacut have been suffering as there is no irrigation water to cultivate their fields. Depending on rainwater, some of the farmers who tried to cultivate their lands faced severe financial losses as rains eluded them in the peak season.
In order to provide irrigation water to about 1.24 lakh acres in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, the government had taken up the Thotapalli reservoir on the Nagavali river in 2003. The project timeline was five years and the estimated cost of the project was `450 crore. The cost later escalated to about `800 crore due to the abnormal delay in executing the project.
The district administration faced a tough time in acquiring 1,100 acres of land for the project. There were a series of agitations by land losers for relief and rehabilitation. After clearing several hurdles, the department completed all the construction works of the reservoir and its 117-km-long main canal.
According to the government’s assurance to the farmers, water from Thotapalli will be available for the 2015 kharif season. The irrigation officials, on a war-footing, completed the works to release the water in the third week of July.
“Pending minor works relating to the 29 distributary canals, four branch canals and two NH crossing works will be completed by July 2. The 117-km-long right main canal of the reservoir was completed except the tail-end 2 km. There is a railway crossing across the 2-km-long canal which will be completed next year. The department had already paid `4 crore to the Indian Railways. Under the Thotapalli project, water will be provided to 40,000 acres (original target was 62,000 acres) in Vizianagaram district and another 40,000 acres in Srikakulam district (aiming to provide 58,000 acres) this year,” said Tirumala Rao, Thotapalli project superintending engineer.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by VK Lakshmi Gayatri / June 30th, 2015
Necessity is the mother of invention may be cliched statement, but it was necessity that prompted Vizagite Nilesh Korada to set up an online marketplace to cater to home-based services in the Port City.
Incubated at the Sunrise Startups in January this year, Nilesh Korada along with seven other Vizagites, started QuickPebbles, an online marketplace providing high quality electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and computer repair services that can be booked via phone call, website or their Android app.
As of now, QuickPebbles is offering its services in more than 20 areas across the city and has around 400 skilled workforce are offering their services.
“The idea to begin a startup came up actually because I was facing a problem in finding an electrician in my neighbourhood. It is a common problem that people across the city face. Even if you manage to find someone, the service is at times quite questionable. That is when I thought of a startup that can provide skilled workers across different areas of the city,” said QuickPebbles founder Nilesh Korada.
“The idea came up last year and subsequently I met other people at Sunrise Startups with a similar concept. It’s then that we decided to go ahead with this service,” he added.
Explaining the business model, he said, “We focus on quality and providing a swift service to our customers. The startup runs on a commission basis in which we take a little cut for managing the operations.”
Pointing out that the startup had invested around Rs 2 lakh till now, he said, “Once we start delivering around 300 services per month in the city, we will start actively looking for investors for a funding of around Rs 10-15 lakh for our expansion. This will mainly be for marketing and turning the service into a more professionalized set-up. We also want to tap the market potential in other cities as well – especially other tier-2 cities.”
To ensure that the skilled workforce on their lists offers quality services, operations manager Peela Raju said, “One member of our team accompanies the technician to the residence of the customer to oversee the work being done and also to get feedback from the customer on how to improve our services.”
With the development of the website as well as consolidating the database of the skilled workforce taking nearly six months, QuickPebbles launched its service on June 1 this year. “In a span of 20 days, we have done around 50-odd service calls, mainly in areas such as Seethammadhara and MVP Colony. We haven’t done much of a marketing campaign as yet and are getting calls based on word of mouth publicity” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / by Manish, TNN / June 24th, 2015
Some passionate ‘foodpreneurs’ in Vizag talk about their love for food and recipe for success.
There is something about food that lures people from different career backgrounds to become food entrepreneurs or foodpreneurs. The city has seen a mushrooming of standalone cafes, concept eating-out joints and e-commerce food startups, seeking to grab a share of the growing Indian food industry pegged at Rs 3 lakh crore . The start may be modest, but for the entrepreneurs getting even a fraction of this market could mean a business worth in crores. To that end they are focusing on local cuisine, affordable price points, an amalgamation of varied concepts and convenience of delivery.Metroplus chats with some passionate foodpreneurs who are discovering their recipes for success.
Visitors enjoying an evening at the newly-opened cafe ‘Tvam’. / Photo: K.R. Deepak
‘Tvam’
The woody, earthy interiors of ‘Tvam’ are as inviting as the wafting smell of baked goodies from its cosy space located at a small lane of Pandurangapuram. Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Tvam’ meaning ‘That You Are’, what makes the place different is its unique concept of bringing two elements together – a patisserie and a boutique. Started by Preeti Agarwal, a lot of thought has gone into designing the interiors and the logo of the place, which reflects Preeti’s fascination for the Buddhist culture and her artistic sensibilities. “My concept was to create a place which fuses the concepts of a boutique and a patisserie. The idea of relaxing is different for different individuals. While some prefer relaxing over a cup of coffee or food, shopping and dressing up well are also a form of relaxation for many others. By bringing these two concepts together, I wanted to create a space where different walks of people can come and relax,” says Preeti, who is an MBA graduate with a diploma course in ethnic apparel designing and has also completed two levels in baking course. Tvam’s patisserie offers a variety of options of desserts and breads. But Preeti says the specialty of the place will be its English desserts like lemon and fruit tarts, red velvet cake with cream cheese toppings and low fat sponge cakes (made on order). The interior decors are done up well with recycled products. For instance, the show lights in the café that are made from recycled bottles. Tvam’s boutique features a blend of Indian and Indo-Western wear sourced from designers from across the country, priced at affordable rates.
Specialty: English desserts
Timings: 11.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.
Health-friendly dishes dished out at Kaloreez. / Photo: K.R. Deepak
‘Kaloreez’
When Robert Rejoice, a marketing head of a leading shopping chain, decided to chuck his corporate job and become a food entrepreneur, serving ‘health’ food is what he had in mind. That’s how ‘Kaloreez’ was born. He prefers to let his food do the talking and shies away from posing for a photograph. “Apart from my close friends and my family, nobody knows that I am running this food joint. And I prefer to keep it that way,” says Robert with a chuckle. The MBA-graduate-turned-food entrepreneur started the joint last year but faced a few hiccups along the way. “We had to shut down the first ‘Kaloreez’ joint at Kirlampudi Layout few months after it started due to some unavoidable circumstances. It took me nearly six months to finalise another suitable place for the relaunch at Daspalla Hills,” says Robert. Right from the rustic décor to the selection of a revised menu, Robert ensured that he perfected each and every element of the concept he had in mind for ‘Kaloreez’. “The dream to start a health food joint was something I had cherished since 2009,” he says. The passionate food entrepreneur’s day starts from as early as 5 a.m. and ends after wrapping up the last order of the day. Apart from a variety of health friendly and low calorie food platter with salads and sandwiches, the new menu includes brown rice biryani, lemon bubble drink, the Kaloreez special drink and Robert’s own creation of honey gazed chicken salad.
Specialty: Low calorie menu
Timings: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Native Taste
Food tech is the latest buzz in the startup community. After technology startups have made their mark in the e-commerce segment, the ever-hungry Indian entrepreneurs are looking to satiate the appetite of others. Tapping into this space and bringing a unique concept before food lovers across the country is the team of the Native Taste, a Vizag-based ecommerce food startup. Founded by Raja Sekhar Pentakota, Bhyrava Murthy Mutnuri and Gowthami Kanumuru in January this year, the portal nativetaste.in whips up a mindboggling variety of traditional sweets and snacks from various parts of India. So you can sit in a remote corner of Andhra Pradesh and enjoy Agra’s famous petha, order Kakinada’s kaja from Rajasthan or relish Pune’s Bhakarwadi by placing an order from Kerala. “When I used to travel across the country, I and Bhyrava would often wonder why we needed to travel so far to taste the specialty of the place. That’s how we stumbled upon the idea to connect all the regions under a platform for food lovers to enjoy the regional specialties from anywhere in India,” says Raja Sekhar. The portal has more than 30 varieties of traditional sweets and snacks which are procured from the place of origin. “We identified vendors and families that have been making the delicacies for past several decades. For instance, the Madugula halwa is procured from a vendor whose family has been in the business of making the delicacy from the past 190 years,” explains Raja Sekhar. The team is currently working in collaboration with a Bangalore-based food packaging firm for a temperature-controlled food packaging to increase the shelf life of the products. They will soon be starting international orders from July to cater to requests pouring in from countries like Australia, the US and UK.
Specialty: Traditional sweets and snacks
People enjoying an evening at Bean Board./ Photo: K.R. Deepak
Bean Board
During the past one year, Bean Board has become synonymous with friendly bonding. Founded by Isaac Jeremiah, David DeLaughter and Tyler Julliard, the uniqueness of Bean Board comes from the fact that it gives a representation to the surfing community of the city, promoting a community-based café concept where friends come and share quality time together. It is no wonder then that the place is a “strictly no-wifi zone”. “We never wanted wifi in our café since the entire idea was to create a space where people forget their gadgets and enjoy some good conversations,” says Isaac. Bean Board has seen many small groups blossom into big cheerful gatherings over a cup of coffee. Here, you find surfing boards of different shapes and sizes perched up the walls of the place, the proud possession of one of its founders David, who is a passionate surfer himself. As the café turns one on July 1, it will be celebrated with a uniform special pricing of all its products and live performances by local rock band Kairoz and guitarist Abhishek on July 1 and 2. One of the USPs of the café is its over 90 flavours of ice teas and its concept of small jar coffee, priced at Rs 100, that promotes the concept of sharing among four friends. This apart, its latest addition ‘marble mocha’ was an instant hit with its blend of dark and white chocolate, caramel and coco powder flavours. The menu also includes seasonal specials like red velvet cake and ‘birthday cake’.
Specialty: Seasonal specials and ice teas
Timings: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Mon-Sat) and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Sun)
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Food / by Nivedita Ganguly / June 26th, 2015
