The Sharik Hasan Quartet, a group of jazz musicians based in New York city, will perform at the Hotel Marriot on July 2.
Entry is to the event is free.
The programme, which begins at 7.30 p.m., is being jointly organised by the US Consulate General, Marriott Hyderabad, Goethe-Zentrum, Alliance Francaise, Musee Musical and Hyderabad Western Music Foundation.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad /by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – June 29th, 2013
Close to three months ago, Mohammad Ali Baig’s theatre group, Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation, was invited to be a part of the week-long Hyderabad Heritage Festival. Following the invitation, he began working on a script for a new play, writing with 24-year-old Chennai-based author Prarthana Rao, aka Noor. In three weeks, the two put together Quli: Dilon Ka Shahzaada, depicting the legendary love story of Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah, a sultan of the Qutb Shahi dynasty and founder of the city of Hyderabad, and his wife, Bhagmati.
“I gave her the structure and a synopsis and, in about three nights, we had the first draft of the play,” says Hyderabad-based Baig. The two writers also took on the lead roles of the sultan and his wife, and the play opened to a full house at Golconda Fort. A month later, in May, Baig was invited to stage the play at National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai’s, Hindi theatre festival, Ananda Hindi Natya Utsav. Now, Baig has been invited to take the production to the Footsbarn Theatre Festival in France, on July 17 and 18.
Like all of Baig’s other productions, Quli: Dilon Ka Shahzaada is large-scale and rather grand. At Golconda Fort, Baig arrived on a white horse to deliver the opening monologue. Unlike the others, however, this production was designed so that it could be scaled down to suit other venues. “We can do away with the monologue I delivered on horse-back,” says Baig. At the NCPA’s Experimental Theatre, there was no scope for such a grand entrance and it was excluded from the production. Similarly, when the group travels to France next month, they will present this modified version.
The Footsbarn Theatre Festival will mark a first for the group in terms of the performance venue. Plays at Footsbarn are performed in a specially built theatre tent, to an audience much smaller than the sort Baig and his group are used to. “We have never performed in a tent before, so that will be a challenge,” he says. “I get a great joy out of performing for large audiences, but it’s a different thrill to perform for smaller audiences.”
An ad filmmaker by profession, Baig had quit his father’s Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation because he thought it was “too intense”. However, in the eight years since, the younger Baig has stuck to his venture, making one grand production after another, paying tribute to his father, a popular figure in Indian theatre. “Theatre is not a hobby or a profession,” he says. “It’s a tribute to Baba and it’s my duty.”
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Indian Express / by Zaira Arslan zaira.arslan@expressindia.com / Sunday – June 30th, 2013
If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old, said Austrian-born American management consultant Peter F. Drucker. The duo K. Syed Baji and Sheik Sattar do not have any idea who was Peter F. Drucker and also never came across the management guru’s teachings and quotes.
Tailors by profession, the duo appears to follow Drucker’s quote in its spirit in real life unknowingly. Both tailors by profession, they have moved away from the stereotyped operation from shop to mobile platforms. They are tailors on the move. Penury forced them to innovate, said Syed Baji. I managed a tailoring shop for about 15 years, but mounting establishment cost such as power bills, material cost and salaries forced me to close down my shop, he said.
After closing the shop, Syed built a covered trolley with foldable doors on all four sides and set up his sewing machine on it. He parks his mobile tailoring unit on the High School Road near Patamata Ryhtu Bazaar and operates on a daily basis from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
They specialise in alteration and do not take up stitching of new clothes as the space does not permit this task, said Sattar.
The business model was simple, the duo point out. “Women come to the ryhtu bazaar and before entering the bazaar they give us the clothes that need to be altered and collect them back on return.
“This way they save time and we earn our livelihood,” said Syed.
On an average we chip in about Rs.300 to Rs.500 on a daily basis and that is sufficient to keep the fire burning at home, he added. While Syed set up his mobile unit about four years ago, Sattar’s venture is just one-year old. Syed has two daughters whom he got married and a son who works at a star hotel in the city.
Sattar has a school-going daughter and a son. “I want them to take up higher studies of their choice and for which I would not mind working a few extra hours a day. The alteration business has no season and the flow is good throughout the year,” observed Sattar.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Sumit Bhattarcharjee / July 18th, 2013
Fighting cyber crime
Tech-savvy additional DCP of Central Crime Station, Cyberabad, G. Janaki Sharmila, cracks down on cyber criminals and helps women in peril.
The absolute highlight of G. Janaki Sharmila’s career was when, as Kovvur Deputy Superintendent of Police, she went to Mumbai and rescued 21 girls, including six minors, from a redlight area along with CID officials.
After coming to Hyderabad as additional DCP of Cyberabad Central Crime Station, Sharmila is today rescuing girls and women targeted by cyber criminals. She has also cracked down on many cases of economic offences and other cyber crimes.
An MBA graduate from Sri Venkateswara University, Sharmila was an employee in the Andhra Pradesh Women’s Co-operative Finance Corporations before her fateful entry into the police department. A tragic car accident in 2004 near Nagarjunasagar had claimed her 10-month-old daughter and left her and her family injured. That was when she decided to serve the people as a cop.
“I always had great respect for the police department. In a way, the accident made me realise that my purpose was to serve people,” she says.
Sharmila then cracked the APPSC group exams in 2007. She served in Kovvur as DSP and Rajahmundry as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) before being transferred as the first additional DCP of CCS in Cyberabad. When she took charge as OSD in Rajahmundry, notorious rowdy gangs were at war. With continuous efforts, Sharmila and her team rounded up the history-sheeters and brought peace to the area.
The tech-savvy cop with a B.Tech degree, Janaki also supervises major cases in which women are victims. She thinks that any challenges that are faced by women police officers can be dealt with if they are confident. “My family and higher officials always have given me that confidence,” she says.
Right in middle of all the action
From factionists, kidnappers and rioters, East Zone DCP R. Jayalaksmi has seen it all.
R. Jayalakshmi came in as Deputy Commissioner of Police of East Zone, Hyderabad, which was the hotbed of Telangana agitation last year. And even before she could adjust to the new office, she was thrown into the thick of the tragic Dilsukhnagar twin blasts too.
She was also constantly rushing to Osmania University and EFLU where T-agitations and student suicides were causing chaos. Despite agitators threatening to rock the two famous campuses, she and her team stood firm and soon took the situation under control.
A science graduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Jayalakshmi, a native of Selam, was determined to crack the Civil Services exam without a “push” from her family. “I realised that IPS and IAS were much-sought-after government services and it was entirely my decision to write the Civil Services exam and then to go for the police service,” she says.
The IPS officer of the 2006 batch, who has been assistant Superintendent of Police in Kadapa, Siddipet and Ongole, thinks that the most conspicuous matter for a woman police officer is the sense of protection she enjoys. “I do feel a sense of security in this service, and a sense of responsibility to handle the challenges. These facts motivate me in the career,” she points out.
Before being transferred as DCP in the city in November 2012, she was Superintendent of Police in Krishna district. During her tenure, she had to deal with factionists in Kadapa, and when she was transferred to Siddipet in 2009, the area was chaotic with the ongoing Telangana agitation.
Jayalaksmi thus had the pulse of Telangana, Rayalaseema and Andhra before she took charge in the city.
When she was SP of Krishna district, she made headlines for her stunning performance of hunting down an abductor who had kidnapped a woman medico, and rescuing the victim within 24 hours.
As the only woman Zonal DCP in Hyderabad, Jayalakshmi believes that a determined woman can fulfil her professional and personal duties with ease. But she agrees that a woman cop has to face bigger challenges.
“Working women, especial women police officials, may face tougher challenges sometimes than their male counterparts,” Jayalakshmi confesses, adding that she handles such challenges with the support extended by her higher officials and colleagues.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Offbeat / by DC / July 01st, 2013
Visakhapatnam:
Ambassador of Thailand Pisan Manawapat, along with a team of airline officials, would visit Vizag on July 13.
The Vizag Development Council will host the delegation and a hold a meeting with all the leading tour operators, hotels, Visakhapatnam Air Travellers Association, airport officials of Airport Authority of India, Visakhapatnam.
The ambassador’s visit has been scheduled in the wake of Union minister D. Purandeswari’s appeal to him and officials of Thai Airways and Thai Smile Airlines to start a direct flight from Visakhapatnam to Bangkok as it can promote trade, commerce and tourism.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / June 27th, 2013
Hyderabad :
Hyderabadis are increasingly turning to weight loss surgeries to get rid of obesity. Specialists say highest number of weight loss surgeries in the country are being done in Andhra Pradesh,with a major chunk of them happening in Hyderabad. And with the American Medical Association recently declaring obesity as a disease, city doctors too want the concerned body in India to reconsider its stand on obesity from that of a lifestyle disorder to a disease.
More than half a dozen surgeons, specializing in weight loss surgery in the city, are doing about 60-70 operations every month. New Delhi follows AP with around 50 surgeries and Maharashtra comes third with about 40 surgeries most of which are being performed in Mumbai. A good 60% of the patients are women, experts said.
Dr Mahidhar Valeti, the first surgeon to start weight loss surgeries in AP way back in 2005, says the acceptance for weight loss surgeries is more in AP. According to Dr Valeti who is associated with ApolloHospitals,6,000 weight loss surgeries were performed across India in 2012 of which about 800 surgeries were in AP. Interestingly, the starting age for these surgeriesis12 years.
Also, Dr P V Rao, head, endocrinology, Nims, says that like diabetes, it is time obesity is declared a disease. “Gradually, we are realizing that obesity is not just a lifestyle disorder but has other risk parameters,” says Dr Rao adding “In 30% of obese population, lifestyle is not to be blamed for it.” Estimates suggest that 16% of the urban population and 2.5% of rural population in AP is obese.
Obesity a major health concern
Doctors say one may appear lean but have big bellies. The fat in the peritoneal region of the abdomen directly enters the liver and some of the tissues in the human body and causes damage. Unlike Indians, westerners do not have big bellies but have fat in hips and shoulders which does not cause much damage, they say.
Experts maintain that Hyderabad having more obesity surgeons and physicians, providing the residents more access to surgical management of obesity, shows that we are already recognizing obesity as a major health concern. Doctors further claim that the comorbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, joint pains and infertility are likely to get reverted with the weight loss surgery that costs around Rs 2 lakh.
Dr K Shyam, bariatric physician, Sunshine Hospital, says the surgery addresses two issues – it makes one feel full soon and reduces hunger levels. “Weight has become a new problem for our society, especially urban India,” he says.
There are three major weight loss procedures – gastric band, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. While gastric bypass is much more popular among Americans and is picking up in Europe, in India sleeve gastrectomy is the majorly done weight loss procedure.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Hyderabad> City> Urban Population / by Bushra Baseerat, TNN / June 30th, 2013
Chennai:
India’s first dedicated navigational satellite – IRNSS-1A with a 10 year mission life, will be launched on Monday by ISRO on board PSLV-C22, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at nearby Sriharikota.
The PSLV will blast off into the dark skies from Sriharikota, around 80 km from here, tonight around 11.41 pm carrying country’s first navigational satellite the 1,425 kg IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System)-1A.
“We have had late evening and early morning launches. But this is the first time ISRO is launching a rocket around midnight,” the ISRO official said. The official said the launch time has been fixed taking into account the orbit and inclination at which the satellite will be injected into the space. According to him, the weather at Sriharikota is fine and it may not pose any hindrance for the rocket launch.
He said ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan is expected to have a brief meeting with the media at the rocket port post-launch which will be around 12.45 am on Tuesday.
Around 20 minutes into the launch, the rocket PSLV-XL will eject the navigational satellite at an altitude of 501 km.
The satellite is intended to provide terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and help in disaster and fleet management.
The satellite with a life span of around 10 years is one of the seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment — a regional navigational system developed by India designed to provide accurate position information service to users within the country and up to 1,500 km from the nation’s boundary line, ISRO said.
The IRNSS will provide two types of services — standard positioning service and restricted service. The former is provided to all users and the later is an encrypted service for authorised users. ISRO had planned to launch IRNSS-1A last month. But it had to put it off after finding a problem in one of the electro-hydraulic control actuators in the second stage engine. The rocket was fully assembled with the satellite when the problem was detected during checks. The second stage had to be dismantled to replace the actuator which is an assembly of several components. It weighs around 20 kg. Following the Monday launch of the navigational satellite, ISRO is planning to launch its communication satellite G-Sat 14 using a heavier rocket – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) – powered by a domestic cryogenic engine sometimes in August this year. Preparatory work for the G-Sat 14 launch is going ahead at the rocket launch pad in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here. It will be followed by the mission to Mars later this year. The launch of one more remote sensing satellite is also being planned before the end of the year.
JPN/Agencies
source: http://www.post.jagran.com / Home> India News / July 01st, 2013
Many new colonies have come up on the Ring Road in the city, but Gurunanak Colony has crated a niche for itself. There is no name for the road from Ramesh Hospital junction to Autonagar, but people tend to call it Gurunanak Road.
A Gurudwara at the very entrance of the colony provides a pleasant ambience. The neat and tidy roads, greenery, and serenity not only enthral the visitors but also evoke a thought that they too should have a house in a colony like this.
Eye-catching
The humble Punjabis don’t claim credit for the eye-catching development. Despite being one of the posh areas of the city, strikingly, it doesn’t have a private security.
“Development is possible just because of the cooperation from the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), the police, and the State government. We would not have achieved it had there been no cooperation from officials. The colony doesn’t require any security, as the police vigil is enough,” the residents say.
Gurudwara president Kanwaljit Singh recalls that the residents’ welfare society has earmarked half-acre for a swimming pool, which is presently maintained by the VMC. They have plans to develop it further and bring it under society management.
With a vision
The society also has plans to prohibit smoking in the colony, he says. The foundation for the colony was laid way back in 1980s. Sikh leaders had a vision that every member of the community in the city should have a roof over their head. The leaders, however, were not narrow in their plans. They provided an opportunity for others too such as Sindhis and Marwaris. Their broadmindedness was not limited to it. They even earmarked a place for construction of a temple in the colony.
While the Gurudwara situated at the entrance welcomes the visitors, the Ramalayam at the other end of the road marks the boundary of the colony. There are 65 plots in the colony and, barring a few open plots, most of them have dazzling houses.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by G.V.R. Subba Rao / July 15th, 2013
The group’s Hyderabad facility (called Process Centre Staples) has a capacity to handle 10,000 tonne per month.
Diversified company Reliance Industries Limited’s retail business arm, Reliance Retail , is confident of meeting the growing demand for quality staple consumables in the country. In this regard, the company had invested huge amounts in the retail back-end infrastructure, said a senior official at the company’s Hyderabad processing facility.
The official said their processing centres, currently numbering three at Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pataudi (Gurgaon), equipped with in-house laboratories and latest equipment have been ensuring safe, clean and unadulterated staples with a long shelf-life for its 13 million consumers country-wide.
“As part of its business model, the company had been procuring quality foodgrains and pulses from pre-qualified vendors, mostly local farmers at competitive prices, in accordance with the standards set by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India and the company’s product specifications,” he said.
The group’s Hyderabad facility (called Process Centre Staples), with a capacity to handle 10,000 tonne per month and more than 120,000 tonne per annum staples and pulses is catering to the entire South India, Maharashtra (including Mumbai) and Odisha.
The company’s internal quality processing checks include a five-stage process, encompassing bulk supply by vendor, product quality checks, product fumigation, cleaning, upgrading and packaging.
The retail food arm with 1,500 stores spanning 130 cities across India also sells products like Reliance milk, vegetables, FMCG goods of other major brands.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by BS Reporter / Chennai-Hyderabad June 26th, 2013
Rajamundry:
With power needs on the rise and shortfall in generation by the conventional process, authorities in West Godavari opted for meeting these requirements through the renewable energy process.
New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) authorities of the district have taken up the installation of the solar lighting system in all 800 panchayats in the district. There will be 30 per cent subsidy.
In the first phase, 1,000 lights are being installed at the rate of four for each panchayat covering 250 panchayats; these will be LED (light emitting diode) mode of lights, each costing Rs 17,800.
In the second and subsequent phases, the NREDCAP authorities plan to cover all panchayats with four lights each, and in later phases, the entire street lighting system with solar lights.
As part of provision of amenities to students of welfare hostels, 12 solar water heater systems of 1,000 and 1.500 watts at a cost of Rs 1.50 lakh were installed in 12 SC welfare hostels with funds from Abhilasaha (started with public contributions). In addition, 150 SC welfare hostels in the district were provided with one solar street light and one solar lantern, both of which were found very useful for the inmates during the examination season in March/ April this year.
In another development the installation of a 10 KW solar power pack at a cost of Rs 12 lakh in the district collectorate has been catering to the needs of 30 computers, 30 fans and 40 tubelights in various departments in the premises for the last several months.
NREDCAP West Godavari district manager (DM) D.V. Prasad said that with active support from the district administration and 30 per cent subsidy being extended by the MNRE, they hoped to cater to power needs in this mode to the maximum extent in both the public and private sectors.
The expected 20 per cent subsidy on behalf of state government (which was cleared by the Cabinet sub-committee) is expected to give a further boost to the programme in the district, the district manager said.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / June 27th, 2013