Monthly Archives: June 2012

VVS Laxman Cricket Club comes up in England

Nri's / Pio's, Sports, World Opinion

Bangalore, Jun 18:

One of  Indian batting stalwarts, VVS Laxman, has a club named after him by one of his closest friends in England.

The VVS Laxman Cricket Club in Bradford town of Yorkshire, England is a fitting tribute to the batting artiste from Hyderabad, according to the right-hander’s friend Manish Patel.

“It was a little strange. He was very adamant and I had no choice but to say yes. Manish and his family are among my closest friends. I have known them since 1995 when I played in the Bradford League as a youngster,” Laxman told The Indian Express newspaper on Sunday.

“Obviously I was humbled by their gesture to name a club after me,” added Laxman in the newspaper report.

“This is a small way of showing our gratitude and affection towards a great friend. And we try our best to play the game with the same impeccable fairness that Laxman has always endorsed,” Manish, 41, said.

VVS Laxman Cricket Club plays in the Bradford Mutual Sunday School Cricket League. They have been doing well this season, the report said. This is a 117-year-old league with teams divided into four groups. VVSL Laxman Cricket Club are one win away from securing a semi-final spot.

“Laxman is an icon, probably the closest to being Mr Perfect. And not just on the field. He is a perfect example of how you should carry yourself. It is unimaginable how he’s handled his fame. He is also like family to us,” Laxman’s friend Manish said. Manish is also the secretary of the club.

“The BMSSCL consists of Indian-origin teams, Pakistani-origin teams and several local teams. The standard is quite high, since you have many players who have been part of senior leagues across Yorkshire,” said Mukesh Patel, captain of the club.

Laxman has so far played 134 Tests for India and has scored 8,781 runs with 17 hundreds and 56 half centuries.

ThatsCricket

source: http://www.thatscricket.com / Home> News / posted by Aprameya / Monday, June 18th, 2012

Bureaucrat on the burning deck

About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

The erstwhile Hyderabad State ruled by the Nizams and its accession to the Indian Union are a fascinating part of the making of this nation. At one end were the nationalists represented by the Congress and other players in the freedom struggle, including the Hindu Mahasabha, advocating the integration of Hyderabad with the Indian Union. At another end was the defiant Nizam, who wanted to exercise the choice of staying independent and negotiate aspects on which Hyderabad would like to cooperate (such as defence and currency) with the Indian Union. Added flavour comes from a supplementary angle that brought in the people’s movement in Telangana against the oppression of landlords, orzamindars; a ragtag army of Razakars trying to fight, hand and glove with the Nizam, in order to retain autonomy. Another fact that adds more variety is: about 80 per cent of the population was Hindu, spoke three different tongues, had been under Islamic rule for centuries, adopting an alien language for official and court dealings.

There is a strand of literature that examines aspects on whether Hyderabad should have been integrated with the Indian Union; whether the military action (though given a civilian term: police action) should have indeed occurred; and an associated strand on whether the state should have been trifurcated on a linguistic basis. A fascinating book calledHyderabad: After the Fall (edited by Omar Khalidi) brings out the diverse arguments that were drowned out under the nationalist rhetoric.

With October Coup, then, it was expected that the book would bring out some interesting aspects of how an administrator (in this case, a Taluqdar of Osmanabad District) would have looked at, and dealt with, such issues. These expectations, stemming from the sub-title of the book (“A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad”), were unwarranted. While the context of the book is around the struggle for independence, it is a tragic personal story of a civil servant who faced persecution by the new administration.

This book is Kafka’s delight. The author, Mohammed Hyder, is picked up soon after the Indian forces occupy Hyderabad and is put in prison without much of an explanation. Almost like the re-enactment of Kafka’s Trial, charges are framed much later, he is shifted from one prison to another, documents are withheld for flimsy reasons, even a death penalty is ordered and then the cases are withdrawn even as the persecution outside the courtroom continues. The book deals with Hyder’s trial and incarceration and what comes out of the process. It is the story of a passive struggle by a civil servant, within the confines of civility, to restore his honour and position. The first part of the book is neatly narrated. The second part has extensive reproductions of legal documents, affidavits, counter-affidavits and judgments.

It is interesting to have glimpses of the administration of Hyderabad State from Hyder’s perspective. Judging from his account, Hyder probably did not have a strong position on either accession or otherwise. He comes across as an earnest civil servant keen to maintain law and order and provide senior officers with information on the situation in the district under his control. He does not seem to have a soft corner for Quasim Rizvi, the leader of the Razakars. At the same time, he is willing to engage with him.

Quasim Rizvi, generally painted as the villain of the episode that involved the Razakars, appears very reasonable in all his encounters with Hyder. It is also evident from the book that while the Nizam took the line that “India is a geographical notion. Hyderabad is a political reality” (page 13), the preparation for resistance was based on false ground-level assurances and a notion of external support. While reading Hyder one gets the impression that acceding to India was, for them, a forgone conclusion and any resistance at best was a symbolic one, based more on pomp and ego than on data.

The way Hyder has constructed the book is slightly disappointing. It could have been a great piece of literature — a personal account of the incarceration, a conspiracy hatched and a persecution carried out with clinical precision. It could have been a piece of history retold, about the pressures of being loyal to a losing employer, a tragic story of losing friends and allies who were mostly moving away to Pakistan, a story of Muslim rule in a Hindu state which converts into a majority (Hindu) rule in a state that was predominantly ruled by Muslims. It could have brought out the marginalisation of Muslims, particularly in the post-accession regime in which the erstwhile rulers became minorities. The potential was immense. However, Hyder restricts his story to a dispassionate personal tale, where conspiracies are played down, villains are played up, and everybody is shown to be reasonable. October Coup suffers from decency. It is too decent a book to be set in a tumultuous period.

The reviewer is visiting professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

OCTOBER COUP: A MEMOIR OF THE STRUGGLE FOR HYDERABAD
Mohammed Hyder
Roli Books (Lotus Collection)
228 pages; Rs 295

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Home> Life & Leisure / by M S Sriram / June 15th, 2012

Young Turks tap tech to make classrooms smart, fun

Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technology

The growing education market, which is estimated at USD 40 billion, is attracting interest from a lot of young entrepreneurs. The advent of technology is making classrooms not just smart, but also fun. The idea to use technology to enhance learning in classrooms led by Ram Gollamudi and his friends, to start Edutor Technologies in 2009, a pioneer in launching tablets for students in school.

The Edutor student tablet comes loaded with content that can be updated and it is compatible with all tablet platforms like Android, iOS and Windows mobile solutions. Having already gross revenues of Rs 2,000 crore, Edutor is now targeting Rs 10 crore by next year.

Below is an edited transcript of the interview with Ram Gollamudi on CNBC-TV18’s special show, Young Turks. Also watch the accompanying video

Ram Gollamudi and his team started Edutor Technologies to focus on providing learning solutions for tablets which could be used as a teaching tool.  Apart from serving private schools, Edutor Technologies is in collaboration with the incubation center at IIT-Madras to work on a solution to cater to high-school students in government schools. Serving more than 4,000 children in India, Ram hopes to cater to 10,000 by the end of the year. But what got him started?

Ram Gollamudi, founder & CEO, Edutor Technologies: During my 15-year stay in the US, I observed how technology was used in the whole learning and teaching processes.

The idea to use technology to enhance the learning process struck me when my when my 4-5 year-old son picked up the rudiments of english, maths and science by playing with the iPod Touch.

I returned to India and starting developing the idea with my friends, two-and-a-half years ago. We extensively developed software and content to really take advantage of the rich medium a tablet provides and deliver superior learning experience for students.

And helping them create this superior experience are investors like Hyderabad Angels who invested Rs 2 crore. Ram claims that while the money is being invested in product development, sales and marketing, Edutor Technologies has already grossed revenue of Rs 2 crore through content subscription and sales of software licences.

Ram: The content subscription fees are anywhere between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 depending on the grade. We currently cater to students from third grade to 12th grade and we serve more than 4,000 students so far in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. In terms of subscription, it is Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 and the tablet anywhere can range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 depending on the configuration.

Ram has been able to keep costs low by leveraging existing commercially available technologies that are used worldwide. A 45-member team works on content engineering and development. Ram says that selling the idea of a smart classroom has been his biggest challenge yet.

Ram: In the next 12-18 months targets I have to continue to improve the product, make it a lot faster, seamless and integrated with cloud solution. We wish to reach out to a larger audience and expand to tier-I, tier-II and tier-III cities in the next 12- 18 months.

The team at Edutor now plans to sell over 15,000 tablets and reach a turnover of Rs 10 crore by next year. In three years, it aims to reach out to a million users.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / Home> News / by CNBC-TV18 / January 15th, 2012

Cricket Association of Telangana inaugurated

Sports
Hyderabad, June 15:

Minister for Civil Supplies and Legislative Affairs D Sridhar Babu on Thursday inaugurated the Cricket Association of Telangana at a private hotel.

The Cricket Association of Telangana (CAT) is formed to promote the real talented cricketers in the region, who are being neglected and subjected to discrimination for many years.

The CAT would give top priority to Telangana cricketers, who were neglected by the Hyderabad Cricket Association and Andhra Cricket Association.CAT founder secretary Sunil Babu Kolanpaka stated that the CAT would start off with 20-20 cricket tournament in Hyderabad from mid of July.

He said that the CAT would also conduct inter-district tournaments at Karimnagar followed by inter-schools, inter-collegiate, inter-universities and local league matches at all Telangana districts.

He said that the CAT would launch Cricket Academy and talent search camps in all Telangana districts.

CAT president E Lakshminarayana and joint secretary B Sriram Chakravarthy and other office-bearers were present in the programme.(INN)

source: http://www.siasat.com / Hyderabad / Friday, June 15th, 2012

NOCL raises $100 million from Singapore-based Trafigura

Business & Economy

Nagarjuna Oil Corporation (NOCL), a part of the Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna group, has raised about $100 million (Rs 553 crore) from Singapore-based crude oil trading major Trafigura to fund its six-million tonne oil refinery project coming up in the Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region on the Cuddalore-Nagapattinam stretch in Tamil Nadu.

Disclosing this here on Tuesday, KS Raju, chairman of the Nagarjuna group, said that the company will be raising further funds by diluting its equity in the project. According to him, the group currently holds 40 per cent equity in the project, while it had infused about Rs 800 crore towards the equity.

In April, the Singapore company had reportedly announced plans to pick up a 24 per cent stake in the refinery project for a consideration of $130 million. The proceeds will be used to complete the construction of the project, which is expected to be ready in the later part of next year, according to Raju. The project involves a total investment of about Rs 10,000 crore.

Tata Sons and a German company are among the other equity partners in the project.

Nagarjuna is a diversified conglomerate having interests in power, infrastructure, fertilisers and other sectors. The group is currently undertaking a Rs 5,000-crore expansion of its fertiliser plant at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Agrichem targets Rs 1,000-crore revenues
Nagarjuna Agrichem Limited (NACL), a part of the Nagarjuna group, is targeting to achieve the Rs 1000-crore turnover mark, from Rs 600 crore last year, in the next couple of years.

The proposed revenue growth would be achieved by enhancing the exports by way of contract manufacturing as well as through expanding its domestic footprint by 20-25 per cent, said Raju after inaugurating the company’s new research and development (R&D) centre in Hyderabad. The company had invested about Rs 75 crore in the new research facility and its zero-liquid discharge manufacturing facility at Srikakulam, he said.

The company, which currently produces and markets about 45 generic crop protection products across the country, is currently in discussions with 8-10 international players to bring their proprietary products into the Indian market, according to him.

NACL managing director V Vijay Shankar said that they will be introducing two proprietary products owned by multinational companies shortly, mainly in the herbicide category.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Home> Companies & Industry / by BS Reporter / Chennai/Hyderabad / June 13th, 2012

Launches 65th ‘Canon Image Square’ Along with New Hyderabad Office

Business & Economy

Hyderabad, India

— 65th Canon Image Store launched in Hyderabad
— Sets up exclusive specialty brand store for consumer digital imaging range
— Plans close to 100 stores across 35 cities in South India by 2015

Canon India Pvt. Limited, India’s No 1. Complete Digital Imaging Company has launched its 65th Canon Image Store (CIS) along with a new office in Hyderabad. The motive behind the inauguration of the retail store and the office is to strengthen Canon’s foothold in the South Indian region, by boosting sales and increased brand visibility.

During the inauguration, Mr. Kevin Kobayashi, CEO, Canon India, said, “Markets such as Hyderabad are critical to Canon’s growth in India. The exclusive CIS Hyderabad store enforces Canon’s increased focus on penetration across south India including tier II & tier III cities. Our customers here have reposed great faith in us and their overwhelming response to our products, have helped us grow our market share across categories. This is an endeavor to express our gratitude to them and ensure state of the art imaging products and services, on a continuous basis.”

Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President, Canon India, added “The Andhra Pradesh sales for Canon have been increasing at a rate of 50%. This new marketing strategy of opening an exclusive retail store along with a full-fledged Canon branch office in Hyderabad will enable better sales and increased brand awareness in the rest of the state in Andhra Pradesh. The CIS will provide a unique purchase experience to customers as a trained technical team will explain the technology and usage of Canon products. While the product features will be demonstrated, the consumers will experience the touch and feel of the latest digital imaging products. Also, the new office inaugurated is a sign of increasing sales and a promise to delight customers of the region, better than ever,”

The franchise based store is strategically located in one of the evolving business centers in Hyderabad. Somajiguda is home to international banking institutions, well known IT companies and well known automobile sales. The store is intended to be a one-stop destination for people with imaging needs. The wide displays of products with touch and feel experience allows the customer to make a better and informed decision at the point-of-sale.

The CIS brand stores enforces Canon’s increased focus on penetration across the country including major metros and tier II & tier III markets. The area covered by each outlet varies from a minimum of 600 sq. ft to a maximum of 900 sq. ft with franchisee investment of Rs. 25 to Rs. 30 lacs located in malls or any high footfall area. Expected breakeven of these stores is in about 6 months with ROI of 18-19%.
The Canon new office premise in Hyderabad is 5400 square feet and located at Raj Bhavan Road, Somajiguda. The office is designed around the core principles of Kyosei, which symbolizes ‘All people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future’. The Hyderabad centre seats around 37 employees. Some of the highlights of this office include a magnificent reception with almost 100% additional seating capacity. The premise also features a 20-seater conference room.

Understanding the evolving consumer needs, Canon plans to tap the growth of retail market estimated at Rs 300 crore annually and the digital imaging market that is currently growing at 50%. The stores opened till date experienced an average foot fall per store per month of 2000. The increase in footfall in weekends over weekdays is over 100%.

From the store (CIS) exclusively, the company has plans to open 300 stores by 2015 and expecting revenues of Rs.175 crore in 2012 and Rs.1000 crore by 2015.

About Canon Inc.

Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leader in the fields of professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems. Canon’s extensive range of products includes copying machines, inkjet and laser printers, cameras, video equipment, medical equipment and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. Originally established in 1937 as Precision Optical Industry, Co., Ltd., a camera manufacturer, Canon has successfully diversified and globalized to become a worldwide industry leader in professional and consumer imaging systems and solutions.

With over 195,000 employees worldwide, Canon has manufacturing and marketing subsidiaries in Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania; and a global R&D network with companies based in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Canon’s consolidated net sales for fiscal 2011 (ended December 31, 2011) totaled $46 billion. Visit the Canon Inc. website at: www.canon.com.

Canon in India

Canon India closed the year of 2011 with revenues of Rs.1525 crore which is 21 % growth over 2010. Canon focuses on multiple market segments of consumer, B2B, Government & Commercial. Canon’s product portfolio extends over a vast variety of copier MFDs, fax-machines, printers, scanners, All-in-ones, digital cameras, camcorders and multimedia projectors, cable ID printers, semiconductors and card printers.

Canon India Pvt. Ltd. is a 100% subsidiary of Canon Singapore Pvt. Ltd., a world leader in imaging technologies. Set up in 1997, Canon India markets over 140 comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging. The company today has offices in 7 cities, warehouses in 13 cities across India and employs over 930 people. Canon has approximately 380 primary channel partners 13 National Retail Chain partners, and over 4000 secondary retail points. Oce distributors in India will now be a part of Canon partner network. Canon’s service reach extends to over 200 towns with over 200 service Engineers, 4 Master service centers and 34 Canon Care Centers. Canon and Océ products are available with complete service support network.

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Wednesday, June 13, 2012 — (Business Wire India)

source: //www.businesswireindia.com / source: Canon / Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

Jwala Gutta all set to make India proud in London Olympics

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All, Sports

On the court, she has brought down many opponents with her powerful shots, and off the court, she has courted several controversies with effortless ease! That’s Jwala Gutta, the glamour queen of Indian badminton.

Jwala Gutta is determined to win gold medals for India

Having started at a very young age of 10, Gutta has never looked back. With several wins in doubles and mixed doubles championships, today she is considered as one of the best doubles partners in badminton.

The Commonwealth gold medalist who is also the first Indian to have qualified for two events in the Olympics is determined to win gold medals for the nation. And Gutta’s track record with her partners, V Diju and Ashwini Ponnappa only inspires confidence.

Training hard for fitness, Jwala Gutta is confident of making India proud in London and we wish her the very best!

source: http://www.yourmoneysite.com / Home> News / Editorial Team, Bloomberg UTV / June 13th, 2012

Veteran wins medals

Records, All, Sports

Veteran B. Syamasundara Rao won four medals at the 32nd Indian masters athletic championships.

B. Syamsundara Rao of Visakhapatnam won four medals at the 32nd Indian masters athletic championships held in Bangalore recently.

He won the 100 M sprint in a meet record time of 14.05 seconds in the 60 years plus category.

His second gold came in the 4×100 M relay when Andhra Pradesh finished first in the race.

Syamasundar claimed bronze medals in the 200 M and high jump events.

Syamasundar, a retired employee of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, won many medals in the senior Nationals and later veterans nationals in the past and participated in the international meets in West Germany, the US, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / June 11th, 2012

Music concert for a cause

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Uncategorized

Rohit Dutta performing at a rock show at Gurajada Kalakshetram on Sunday. The show was organised to raise contributions for charity. Photo:C.V.Subrahmanyam / The Hindu

Vision and You (VAY) Foundation and Marshall’s Youth Organisation on Sunday evening organised a charity show, “A cause to rock” at Gurajada Kalakshetram.

The performance of a rock band comprising engineering students was the mainstay of the programme.

Earlier singing of Janaganamana by hearing impaired students and a dance by physically challenged student, Pushpalata, won the applause of the audience.

Visakhapatnam West MLA Malla Vijay Prasad lauded VAY Foundation and Marshall’s Youth Organisation for their initiative to contribute to the cause of service.

He hoped they would continue to involve themselves in such activities.

Municipal Commissioner B. Ramanjaneyulu said the show organised for a good cause achieved its objective and complimented the quality of programmes.

VAY Foundation president Ganta Swamy said the foundation conducted several programmes to help poor students, women and the aged during the last two years.

The proceeds from the show would be spent on organising medical and blood donation camps.

Municipal Administration Regional Joint Director P. Ashajyothi, Symbiosys CEO O. Naresh Kumar, Mother Charitable Trust chairman Vikas Pandey and representatives of the youth organisation participated.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Staff Reporter / June 11th, 2012

SKP Group Vizag ferroalloy unit to start production by month end

Business & Economy

Kolkata based ferroalloy manufacturer SKP Group plans to increase the share of exports through its new unit at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, which is likely to be operational by June end.

The plant is being built at a cost of INR 153 crore. It will manufacture bulk ferroalloys such as ferromanganese, ferrochrome and ferrosilicon.

According to Mr Ankit Patni the group’s joint managing director, rupee devaluation has helped boost export values while volumes have remained subdued. Exports account for half of the group’s turnover, which stood at INR 4,000 crore in 2011-12.

Mr Patni told Business Line that “Impex Metal and Ferro Alloys Ltd, a group company primarily into trading of alloys, has set up two furnaces of 18 MVA each for manufacturing of ferroalloys at Visakhapatnam.”

Depending on the kind of ferroalloy to be produced, manufacturing capacities would vary between 30,000 and 80,000 tonnes of end product. He said that “Nearly 100% of the production at Visakhapatnam will be exported.”

The group has lined up investments worth INR 1,000 crore for expanding its manufacturing capacities over next two years.

Plans are afoot to set up ferroalloy plant for manganese in Raipur and a 1.8 million tonne pellet making plant at Orissa.

He added that “We will invest about INR 200 crore in putting up five 9 MVA ferroalloy plants in Raipur. We have already purchased the land, the financial closure will happen soon.”

For the pellet making plant, the process of land acquisition is likely to be complete by September. The company will pump in INR 1,000 crore over next three years for this plant.

Source – Hindu

source: http://www.steelguru.com / Monday, June 11th, 2012