Monthly Archives: February 2016

Care & Share Trust founder passes away

Carol Faison
Carol Faison

Carol Linda Faison, founder of Care & Share Charitable Trust, Vijayawada, passed away at Daddy’s Home in Gannavaram on Saturday afternoon.

In a statement, the organisation president Noel Harper said the funeral will take place on Monday evening.

An American living in Venice, Italy, Ms. Faison visited Vijayawada in 1995 and discovered the harsh reality of the street children and the plight of the handicapped here. She began to focus her efforts on helping the less fortunate children and raised funds for a laboratory for production of callipers, artificial limbs and crutches and started a special home for the handicapped.

She also built an elementary school in Manginapudi. Later, she constructed two partially self-sustainable villages — Daddy’s Home and Butterfly Hill — with a dispensary and school for destitute children.

In 1997, she founded the Care & Share Charitable Trust in India to manage all the programmes for the children here. In 2000, she also established Care & Share Italia Onlus in Italy to raise funds for the trust here.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / Special Correspondent / February 28th, 2016

Sri Rangapuram a noble country seat of the Paravasthus

Visakhapatnam:

Sri Rangapuram, a tiny settlement nestled in Krishnanagar of Maharanipeta area, was once an Inam estate of the noble Paravasthu family, who were Satana Vaishnavaites, scholars of Telugu literature and teachers of Vaishnavaite scriptures.

The Paravasthus had received the Inam prior to their permanent settlement in 1803 and since then, have been residents of Visakhapatnam, though originally they hailed from Nellore district. The Visakhapatnam Paravasthu branch is also an off-shoot of the original branch, the products of which are people like Paravsthu Chinnayya Suri, who played a major role in the modernisation of Telugu language and was also one of the earliest advocates of social reform.

Members of the Visakhapatnam branch of the Pravasthus have been hereditary trustees of several old Vaishnavaite temples in Vizag and even supported a Veda Pathashala. The famous Venkateshwara temple in the Old City is one such temple that received services from the Paravasthus as hereditary trustees. Over the generations, the Paravasthus greatly promoted traditional scriptural education till the 1950s, after which they lacked the financial means to support their spiritual and benefactor duties chiefly due to the Estate and Inam Abolition Act that came into existence in the early 1950s.

Today, the entire area known as Krishnanagar was once part of the Paravasthu estate and because they were ardent Vaishnavaites, the place is named after Lord Krishna. More importantly, a vast majority of the villagers of Sri Rangapuram are Yadavas, who are ardent worshippers of Lord Krishna and extremely devout Vaishnavaites. The Paravasthus also used to hold court and conduct the Krishna Janmastami celebrations with splendour during their hay days. However, the changes post independence forced many of them to suspend their activities and a vast majority of the Paravasthu clan left the country.

History buff BS Mahesh said, “The Paravasthus were totally devoted to the Bhakti movement and promoted the Bhakti ideology. More importantly, they were people who went with the flow of times and were known to be quite flexible and liberal in their stance concerning social reforms, especially widow remarriage. However, today, the family has been long forgotten and even Sri Rangapuram is just an old village within the city.”

“One of the Paravasthus, Paravasthu Ranga Chari, a descendent of the original Inamdar, used to be an active member of the Theosophical Society and would attend the meetings there. His beliefs and views were quite modern, though they completely agreed with what was basically written in the old scriptures. He was a true practitioner of the Dharma Siddhanta,” said PN Rao, an old resident of the area.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / February 27th, 2016

Gold knee joint revolutionises replacement surgery

3D gold knee and ePlus poly cover can also enhance longevity, says doctor

Research in total knee replacement surgery has led to gold knee-blended joint with vitamin ePlus poly cover. The Guntur-based Sai Bhaskar Hospitals has successfully operated upon a 65-year-old man, Gopal Rao, and implanted a gold ceramic-coated knee joint.

Managing Director Busireddy Narendra Reddy said here on Saturday that for the first time a vitamin ePlus poly cover with gold plated knee joint, gold femur, was used in AP while it has been in vogue in the USA since July 2011.

“In comparison to other joint prostheses, knee replacement implants, made of cobalt and chromium that continuously release allergenic metal ions, with ceramic surface coating on metallic components has many benefits in reducing both allergic reactions and wear,” Dr. Narendra Reddy said.

The new 3D gold knee and ePlus poly cover can also enhance the longevity and performance in total knee replacement surgery.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Guntur – February 28th, 2016

VSP Clinches Gold in Inter-Steel Relay Tourney

Visakhapatnam :

Visakhapatrnam Steel Plant (VSP) clinched the 4 x 400 m relay in the Inter-Steel Athletic Championship 2015-16, which was held at Tata Steel Jamshedpur under the aegis of Steel Plants Sports Board (SPSB) on Friday.

This is for the first time that the VSP  won a gold in the SPSB Athletics. K Tarun Kumar,  A Sainath, Y Dinesh and L Sai Kumar are the athletes who brought glory to the VSP.

In addition, Tarun Kumar won a bronze in the 200 m category and manager (Utilities) M Vara Prasad, who co-ordinated the team was nominated for the best observer title. Sameer Kumar Sekhar is the VSP athletic team coach while sports committee member BS Chakravarthi is the manager.

RINL director (Personnel) GBS Prasad felicitated the winners and other officials. While congratulating the young athletes, Prasad assured complete support to help them reach greater heights. AGM(Sports) MS Kumar, SEA president YK Garg, general secretary P Satyanarayana, AM(Sports) A Kranti Kumar, JM (Sports) MV Murali Mohan, AE (Sports) NJ George, WIPS members of VSP sports committee and others took part in the felicitation ceremony.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / February 27th, 2016

Raman Fellowship for nano research centre chief

K. Ramachnadra Rao, Lecturer in Physics and Research Director for Crystal growth and Nano-science Research Centre, Government College (Autonomous), Rajamahendravaram, was selected for the prestigious Raman fellowship for Post-Doctoral Research in the US by the University Grants Commission to carry out research on Development of Renewable Energy Recourses.

Under the fellowship, Dr. Ramachandra Rao will work at the University of Louisville under the guidance of Prof. Jessica Jesanski for a year.

According to Mr. Rao, the project is aimed at developing mechanically flexible and robust polymer films for fabrication of economic polymer-based solar cells for various applications.

Congratulating Dr. Rao, Government Arts College Principal Ch. Mastaniah said the fellowship had brought international recognition to the college.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Rajamahendravaram – February 20th, 2016