Monthly Archives: October 2012

Livelihoods Camp to begin today

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Uncategorized
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh greeting a tribal farmer at Konthili village in Visakhapatnam district on Sunday after planting the 2 millionth fruit tree. State Minister P. Balaraju and CEO, Naandi Foundation, Manoj Kumar, are seen.  / Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu

Indigenous practitioners from across the world to take part

The Naandi Foundation and Global Livelihoods Network is organising a three-day Livelihoods Camp at Araku Valley from Monday.

The camp is being organised to bring together indigenous practitioners of sustainable livelihood from across the world to learn from the experience of the tribal farmers of the Paderu Agency area. The tribal farmers here have taken up an afforestation programme in 6,000 ha in the region under which 60 lakh saplings belonging to 14 fruit and timber species will be planted under the guidance of the Naandi Foundation and Global Livelihoods Network and Mahindra & Mahindra, explains CEO, Kallam Anji Reddy Chair of Naandi Foundation, Manoj Kumar. Earlier, the network had helped the tribal farmers take up cultivation of coffee in seven mandals.

Noting that this was a monoculture, the network took up the challenge thrown by Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh to encourage biodiversity and launched the Hariyali — 60 lakh fruit tree plantation programme — in the area three years ago.

Last year, the farmers planted 10 lakh trees. This year, the number has gone up to 20 lakh saplings. In the next two years, the network is confident of achieving the target of planting 60 lakh fruit and timber saplings.

The three-day camp would enable the livelihood practitioners to participate in discussions on livelihoods themes such as carbon rhythms, agricultural sustainability, ensuring fair price for the produce, and evolving sustainable community well-being and nutritional security, president of Global Livelihood Bernard Giraud said while addressing a meeting organised to mark the plantation of the 2 millionth fruit tree as part of the Hariyali programme at Konthili village in Hukumpeta mandal of the district on Sunday.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju, Paderu ITDA Project Officer Srikant Prabhakar, members of the network, and tribal farmers from the region were present.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam (Paderu), Visakhapatnam District / by Special Corrrespondent / October 08th, 2012

Clock, Rebecca and Salarjung

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

My first visit to the Salarjung Museum (SJM) was an educational tour from school. I was in Class VI and my classmates and I were seated expectantly at 12 noon in front of the famous clock to watch a figure within the clock come out and strike a bell 12 times. We were excited!

Years later, when I stood before the clock once again, this time with my daughter, Suha, there was the same feeling of complete fascination. Some of the objets d’art here — the statue of Rebecca, chandeliers, swords, paintings, porcelain and carpets — are amazing so is the children’s gallery.

The Museum consists of the largest collection of artifacts owned by a single family anywhere in the world — 47,500 artifacts displayed in 50 galleries, with 8,500 manuscripts and 60,000 books in the library. It receives 6,000 visitors a day, the largest footfall for any museum in India. Only 20 per cent of artifacts are on rotational display, the remainder being stored away for better preservation.

To stay relevant, its spaces have always laid emphasis on world-class display, and in the last three years, 1 lakh sq feet of interiors have been renovated. A gallery of Islamic art, spread over 26,000 sq feet is under construction where the world’s smallest Quran will be on display. The Museum, which is soon to be the subject of a coffee-table book, is now also becoming a cultural hub, with about 100 events staged here last year — plays, ghazal concerts and mushairas.

Reaching out to people is vital for its continued popularity, and its bus, “Culture on Wheels”, visit schools. They have also digitised the manuscripts and books, and soon, its virtual tour may be possible.

(The writer is a philanthropist, educationist and member of the board of Salarjung Museum)

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Tabloid> Others / by Zakir Hussain / October 07th, 2012

Training institute for technicians to undertake dialysis

Education, Science & Technology
Hyderabad:

NephroPlus, a healthcare speciality chain running kidney clinics, has set up a training institute called ‘Enpidia’, here. The institute will train technicians who will be certified to undertake dialysis.

The two-year international standard, certification programme will focus on training dialysis technicians and nurses. It will be administered by US-based agency and aim to bring the much-needed standardisation to dialysis training in India and ensuring quality kidney care.

Announcing the launch Mr Kamal D. Shah, Co-Founder and Director, NephroPlus, said, “The situation today in India is very dangerous. Many dialysis technicians and nurses do not have the necessary training or qualifications to work at dialysis units. This puts the lives of patients at a huge risk.”

The contemporary programmes in the country are not rigorous enough to train people in dialysis. They do not have the necessary theoretical knowledge to effectively look after dialysis patients. Most of them are taught procedures in a very mechanical manner which is simply not enough, he said in a press release.

STIPENDS

NeproPlus will offer stipends right after the third month of training and can go up to Rs 7,500/month in the second year. The course fee is Rs 12,000 every six months. People with this certification will be eligible for jobs in countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, West Asia as well.

NephroPlus, with seven kidney clinics in South India will also be offering jobs to some of these candidates as it plans to open more centres.

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Industry & Economy> Economy / The Hindu’s Bureau / Hyderabad, March 08th, 2012

‘Fish’ speaks for threatened marine life

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, World Opinion

The unique fish which greets participants at the entrance to the Hyderabad CBD conference venue. /  Photo: Mohammed Yousuf / The Hindu

The sculpture made by British artist Silas Birtwistle was built with plastic trash for CoP-11

A table made out of driftwood for Nagoya, and a fish sculpture built with plastic trash for Hyderabad — that is the awareness-raising contribution of Silas Birtwistle, a British artist, to two international conferences of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The 3 metre-long, 1.5 metre-tall fish greeting participants at the entrance to the Hyderabad CBD conference venue is a colourful mosaic of plastic waste, sporting remnants of many commercial brands. It is a symbol of the heavy impact of land-based activity on the seas, and highlights the plight of the coastal communities whose youth have collected the trash and sent it on to the artist.

Some waste from city

This piece of garbage art became possible through the involvement of about 35 young people who collected the plastic and posted it in boxes it to Silas, and his brother Adam, also an artist and collaborator. Some of the waste that helped make the fish is from Hyderabad, the venue of the XI Conference of the Parties to the CBD.

“The plastic waste that washed up on shores has come from many places, including the Philippines, Tasmania, Belize, Costa Rica and Canada,” Silas told the media on Friday at a CoP-related event. The youth who sent it to him would get their first real look at the end result only when they arrive at the venue next week.

They will carry messages for the decision-makers gathering here.

Several participants who collected the trash are fishermen. They work with their communities to stop overfishing and to encourage wider global understanding of the problems facing coastlines and seas. Silas was commissioned to produce the ‘sculpture’ by Go4BioDiv, an international youth forum that has adopted the theme of conservation of coastal and marine biodiversity to sustain lives and livelihoods, during 2012. Among the youth delegates brought together by the forum are those from marine world heritage sites.

For the previous CoP at Nagoya in Japan, Silas put together a conference table made out of driftwood and 12 chairs and the set was used at the conference. Later, it travelled to other venues and meetings.

The wood was collected from the coasts of East Africa, Borneo, Honduras and Canada. That project is now an exhibit on the web, at http://atablefromtheseasedge.com/

“Oceans look the same today, as they did hundreds of years ago, but many people are not able to appreciate the changes such as acidification. Doing things like this is to communicate, use another language to help everyone understand,” says Silas. The fish he has ‘sculpted’ is quite durable and would work like a weather vane, turning when the wind blows. The final display spot of his unusual art work is as yet unclear. “It may go to the Worldwide Fund for Nature or Wildlife Institute of India,” he says.

Threat to seas ‘unprecedented’

Silas was asked at the World Economic Forum in Davos, whether he felt responsible for the environment as an artist. “No,” he told the surprised audience, “you are responsible.”

The CBD describes the threat to the world’s seas from human activity as ‘unprecedented’. Fishing, transportation, waste disposal, agricultural nutrient run-off, and introduction of exotic species are visible threats, while higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere get absorbed by the oceans, altering their chemistry and affecting marine life.

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the decade from 2011 to 2020 the ‘Decade on Biodiversity.’

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> City> Hyderabad / by G. AnanthaKrishnan / October 06th, 2012

Autodesk acquires Pramati’s Qontext platform

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion
US designer buys software to expand social capabilities of its cloud-based service
Autodesk says it intends to use Qontext technology to add new social capabilities to Autodesk 360, its cloud-based platform.

Hyderabad:

US-based three-dimensional, or 3D, design software maker Autodesk Inc. has acquired enterprise social collaboration software platform Qontext from Hyderabad-based Pramati Technologies Pvt. Ltd to expand the social capabilities of its Autodesk 360 cloud-based service.
Qontext comes as a ready-to-use hosted service that helps create contextual conversations with co-workers and customers using bookmarks, discussions, photos, videos, polls, documents and the like. It comes for a monthly subscription “as low as the price of a good coffee”, the company’s website said.
Autodesk said it intends to use Qontext technology to add new social capabilities to Autodesk 360, its cloud-based platform that offers users the ability to store, search and view critical design data and improve the way they design, visualize, simulate and share work with others at anytime, from anywhere.
“Mobile, cloud and social computing are dramatically changing the way engineers, designers and architects work. The addition of the Qontext technology to the Autodesk portfolio will lead to new technology innovations that help our customers embrace these disruptive technologies and leverage them for competitive
advantage,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice-president of information modeling and platform products at Autodesk, in a statement.
Collaborative platforms that link up the cloud, social media and mobile are much sought after in the enterprise market. This is at least the fifth such purchase in the product space in recent months.
Microsoft Corp.  acquired Yammer Inc. for $1.2 billion in July,  Citrix Systems Inc. bought Podio ApS  for an undisclosed sum in April,  SAP AG  purchased Success Factors Inc.  for $3.4 billion in December and VMWare Inc. acquired SocialCast in May last year for an undisclosed amount.
Research firm Forrester Research Inc. said corporate social software will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 61% to become a $6.4 billion market by 2016 from $600 million in 2010.
Autodesk said the development team of Qontext, founded in 2009 and headquartered in California, will join its rolls with this acquisition. “This transaction is a significant milestone in our ongoing bid to incubate and build firms that address the rapidly changing needs of business through highly innovative technologies,” said  Vijay Pullur , president, Pramati Technologies.
Pramati Technologies was founded as a web technology firm in April 1998 by brothers Jay Raghavendra Pullur and Vijay Prasanna Pullur, who worked with information technology services provider  Wipro Ltd.   before that. The privately held firm had previously sold Pramati Studio, a platform to build developer tools, to US-based  Progress Software Corp.  in 2005.
It has incorporated two other firms for each of its products, SocialTwist, a social and referral marketing tool, and Imaginea, a software product and services firm that counts Visa Inc. and Intel Corp.  among its clients. Pramati employs 500 people across three locations globally, according to its website.
The deal size and transaction terms weren’t immediately disclosed. Jay Pullur said at a press conference in Hyderabad that the company invests sizeable amounts in its subsidiaries and expects “VC (venture capital) type returns”.
Pramati incorporates each of its business ideas as separate companies and builds them into mature products before selling them off. It typically invests $3-7 million in mature companies such as Qontext. Venture capital firms usually expect 5-10 times return on their investment. Autodesk executives said the deal was in the million-dollar range but did not elaborate, citing non-disclosure agreements.
With this acquisition, Autodesk will open a development centre in Hyderabad, its second in India after Pune.
The 25-member development team of Qontext, founded in 2009 and headquartered in California, will join its rolls after the acquisition, said  Soren Abildgaard, senior director, cloud platforms, Autodesk.
Rajiv Shivane, who led the Qontext team, will continue to lead it at Autodesk.
Abildgaard also said Qontext will be absorbed into Autodesk and not be branded separately.
Autodesk is not acquiring the existing customer base of Qontext in this transaction and will not support them,  Shanna Tellerman, the company’s product line manager, Web services, said. Pramati will continue to support them for some time, Jay Pullur said.
Pramati is also talking to prospective buyers to sell SocialTwist, Jay Pullur said but did not disclose more details citing confidentiality pacts. At the same time, it is actively considering acquiring a company by the year-end, he said. “It is a reasonably sized deal,” Jay Pullur said.
source: http://www.livemint.com / Home> Companies / by Yogendra Kalavalapalli / Friday, October 05th, 2012

Hyderabad US Consulate joins hands with breast cancer foundation

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

Hyderabad, Oct 4 (IANS)

The United States consulate general in Hyderabad has joined hands with the Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation for greater breast cancer awareness.

The Pink Ribbon Campaign will be organised Oct 7 to mark the beginning of the International Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Actor John Abraham and cricketer V.V.S. Laxman will be the star campaigners at the Pink Ribbon Walk to be held at the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Park here Oct 7, in honour of women who have fought the illness with determination. The aim of the walkers is to raise awareness about the need for early detection of the disease.

Some prominent buildings in the city, like Charminar, the Buddha statue, the US consulate and Hyderabad Public School will be illuminated to demonstrate the strength of pink, a colour that represents breast cancer awareness.

“Our participation salutes women cancer survivors and encourages those fighting the disease not to give up. We walk together to show our solidarity and commitment to spread the word about early detection,” Consul General Katherine Dhanani told reporters here Wednesday.

Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation (UBF) has trained 1,200 healthcare workers to perform clinical breast examinations (CBE), used to detect breast cancer in its early stages.

Director of UBF Raghu Ram said trained healthcare workers would perform CBE on 50,000 poor women in Hyderabad.

“Women with signs of breast cancer will be referred to the nearest primary health centre. Women with no abnormalities will be examined again in two years. Data will be maintained by UBF with the help of TCS,” said Ram.

In India 1,00,000 women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer every year, a number that has overtaken cervical cancer. This figure is expected to increase to 1,30,000 by 2020.

Around 50,000 women die from breast cancer every year in India and it has become the leading cause for death among women in metropolitan cities.

More than one million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer annually.

source: http://www.newstrackindia.com / Home> Others / IANS / Andhra Pradesh> Health/Medicine , Thursday, October 04th, 2012

Course introduced for fashion entrepreneurs in Vijaywada

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education

Fashion Designer Shravan Kumar gives tips at a seminar organised by Samana Institute of Fashion Technology in Vijayawada on Wednesday. /  Photo: V.Raju / The Hindu

The homemakers in the City can now have an option of doing something creative with the introduction of a new “Entrepreneurship Development Programme” (EDP) course in fashion designing.

At the inception of the programme at Samana Institute of Fashion Technology (SIFT), it was introduced in a special seminar by celebrity designer Shravan Kumar from Hyderabad.

The specially targeted course for women will train them in production and marketing of fashionable garments.

“My main intention behind starting this course is to increase the economic standards of women in Vijayawada”, said SIFT CEO Samana Moosavi.

Many women already do some sort of clothes designing from their homes, but they lack proper knowledge about the whole process, she observed.

The course, in 116 sessions over a period of three months, will train them in all the aspects of production house, she added.

The course planned in collaboration with the management of National Institute of Fashion Technology will have classes from renowned designers like Shravan Kumar, P.L. Panda, Krishna Mehta and Zubin Vakil.

Students will be required to spend a minimum of six hours daily for the course but the timings are flexible if a group of people come together, said the CEO.

Admissions

Admissions have already begun for the course and the Institute also provides the facility of getting interested students banking support on their guarantee.

Designer Shravan Kumar gave a special presentation to the students on the changing fashion trends over the world like the Japanese asymmetry. Later, he checked out designs of the students for their upcoming show and gave personal inputs.

“Give a surprise element which your city people are unaware of”, was the advice he gave to the students.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Staff Reporter / Vijayawada, October 04th, 2012

Badminton Nationals: Maiden title for Kashyap, Sayali stuns Sindhu

Sports

Srinagar:

India’s top male shuttler Parupalli Kashyap won his maiden national title, while 2008 winner Sayali Gokhale stunned defending champion PV Sindhu to clinch the crown for the second time in the women’s singles at the 77th Senior National Badminton Championship here yesterday.

London Olympics quarterfinalist Kashyap, who had reached the finals in the 2011 Nationals in Rohtak, prevailed over Ajay Jayaram 21-18, 21-17 in a 45-minute battle.

However, for 17-year-old Sindhu the competition ended on a disappointing note as Sayali played a better game to walk away with a 21-15, 15-21, 21-15 win and regain her title, which she had won in 2008.

Doubles specialist Aparna Balan notched up two titles, winning the mixed doubles and women’s doubles title, along with Arun Vishnu and Siki Reddy, respectively.

Aparna combined with Arun to see off Ashwini Ponnappa and Tarun Kona 21-13, 18-21 before pairing up with Siki Reddy to brush off second seeds Varsha Belawadi and GM Nischitha 21-11, 21-13 to win the women’s doubles title.

“It is a huge burden off my back now. It took a long time and I am extremely happy to win the nationals. It has been a dream to win the nationals,” Kashyap said. PTI

In the men’s doubles competition, young shuttlers Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy notched up their maiden national title, beating third seeds Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra 10-21, 21-14, 21-12 in a 40-minute match.

World number 20, Kashyap led the first game 11-9 at the break and even though Ajay clawed back a couple of times, the Hyderabadi pocketed the game.

In the second game, Ajay was up 10-8 at one stage but Kashyap reeled off three points to move into the breather at 11-10. Slowly and steadily he once again widened the gap to set up match points at 20-16. Ajay saved one match point, before Kashyap shut the door on him with a smash.

“It is a huge burden off my back now. It took a long time and I am extremely happy to win the nationals. It has been a dream to win the nationals,” Kashyap said.

“It was a tough match. Ajay and I have been competing against each other since our junior tournaments. He is always a tough competitor.

“Probably, my ability to do well under pressure was the key today. It was during the Commonwealth Games, then the 2012 Olympics and today here. I have learnt to handle pressure situations,” he added.

While it was celebration for Kashyap, for Sindhu it was a heartbreak after the shuttler failed to stave off the challenge from Sayali.

Sindhu, who was once again playing with a knee brace, led 5-1 initially but Sayali turned the tables, leading 11-9 at the break after registering nine straight points.

She continued the good work to earn game points at 20-14. Sindhu saved one point before losing the first game.

The Gopi trainee made amends in the second game and successfully kept Sayali at bay to push the match into the decider. However, she couldn’t keep the pressure on and gave away the advantage after leading 9-5. Sayali made it 11-11. At 12-12, Sayali pocketed five points to create a huge gap, which Sindhu could never bridge.

“It’s a very good feeling to win the nationals once again. After winning it in 2008, I faltered every time coming close to it. My strategy today was to play an attacking game and keep up the pace. Though I made a couple of mistakes, but it worked eventually,” Sayali said.

“I knew Sindhu had a knee problem. It was apparent with the way she played yesterday against Arundhati. I just played without any pressure,” she added.

Results: Finals: Men’s singles: P Kashyap bt Ajay Jayaram 21-18, 21-17; Women’s singles: Sayali Gokhale (2) bt PV Sindhu (3) 21-15, 15-21, 21-15; Mixed doubles: Aparna Balan (1) and Arun Vishnu bt Ashwini Ponnappa and K Tarun 21-13, 18-21, 21-15;Women’s doubles: Aparna Balan (1) and N Siki Reddy bt Varsha Belawadi (2) and GM Nischitha 21-11, 21-13; Men’s
doubles: Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy bt Akshay Dewalkar (3) and Pranaav Jerry Chopra 10-21, 21-14, 21-12.

PTI

source: http://www.FirstPost.com / Home/ Firstpost> Sports / PTI / October 04th, 2012

Wind energy firm Mytrah announces profits in first operational period

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Aims to double the capacity to 600 mw in next couple of years

Hyderabad-based Wind energy company Mytrah Energy Limited today said it expects to make a profit before tax (PBT) of $ 10-12 million on a projected revenue of $ 28-30 million  in the first half of the current financial year , its first operational period, in contrast to a perception that clean energy forays take longer gestation to break even.

Founded in October, 2010, the London Stock Exchange listed company has a 316 mw operational capacity. located in seven sites, which it takes to 600 mw by investing Rs 2,000 crore in the next couple of years. The company expects to achieve a 16% return on equity over a period of 25 years of plant life where the wind farm output is typically based on a 25-26% plant load factor(PLF).

Explaining the reason behind early break even achieved in wind energy business Ravi Kailas, chairman and CEO of Mytrah Energy said the support of long term funds, lower capital costs besides internal execution capabilities had become a differentiator from other players in the sector. The company has so far invested about Rs 2,400 crore. However, the future expansion would become much easier and quicker if states like Andhra Pradesh move the tariff from the present Rs 3.50 to Rs 4.50 per unit, according to him.

The revenue accruals for the first half of the year also helped by higher energy output at 39% PLF due to good wind season but for the full year it could be around 26%, Ravi said.

About 270 MW of capacity is currently under development for which the company has been pumping in around Rs 2000 crore investment. Of this about   Rs 700 crore of equity finance has already been raised by the company and currently in talks with various banks to raise the debt, according to Vikram Kailas, managing director of Mytrah Energy said.

“We expect to  make a PBT of Rs 700 crore once we achieve 600 mw capacity. This cash flow would help in further expansion that we have proposed to undertake,” Vikram said. The company proposes to establish 5000 mw of installed capacity in wind energy with a total capex of Rs 30,000 crore by 2017-18

source:  http://www.Business-Standard.com / Home> Companies & Industry / by Dasarath Reddy / Hyderabad, October 03rd, 2012

Hyderabad Metro to distribute saplings

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Uncategorized
Hyderabad, OCT. 2:

Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd has made arrangements for distribution of saplings as a part of its Vana Prasadam scheme.

To supplement the efforts of other Governmental organisations and to increase the green cover in the city, the HMR has decided to distribute saplings free-of-cost to individuals, organisations, resident welfare associations, authorities of educational institutions and other organisations under ‘Vana Prasadam’ scheme, N.V.S.Reddy, Managing Director of HMR, said. Saplings mostly of native species will be distributed at Elders’ Mela being held at Zoroastrian Club near Yatri Nivas, Secunderabad, for three days during October 2 to 4. They will also be given at the HMR in Metro Rail Bhavan.

For plantation of over 100 saplings in any identified locality or campus, HMR officials will arrange plantation. HMR is now on Facebook (www.facebook.com/hmrlgov).

rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com /  Home> Industry & Economics > Logistics/ by Hindu Bureau / Hyderabad, October 02nd, 2012