Monthly Archives: October 2017

Andhra Pradesh Farmers Fly To Singapore, Hotels And Food On Government

Officials say the farmers are expected to learn from Singapore how to invest the funds they have earned in exchange for their land, “so that Amravati can become another Singapore”.

The first batch of farmers left this morning for the airport in a bus flagged off by CM Naidu.

Hyderabad :

Cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh is sending over 100 farmers to Singapore so they can see how the land bought from them will be used for the development of new capital Amravati, and also how they can invest their new-found wealth.

These are farmers who signed off their land to the Capital Region Development Authority for the building of Amravati after Andhra Pradesh lost Hyderabad to new state Telangana after bifurcation. Around 26,000 farmers gave up around 33,000 acres of land.

Sources say the government, in partnership with Singapore, has put up Rs. 40 lakh for the tour plan, hotels and food while the farmers, wealthier after being compensated for their land, are paying for the ticket.

The first batch of 34 farmers, selected through a draw of lots, left this morning for the airport in a bus flagged off by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. “These farmers have created a world record by making a success of land pooling. They should learn how Singapore has developed and their best practices,” Mr Naidu said.

There will be four batches and a total of 123 farmers will tour Singapore. Many have never gone abroad and were full of doubts.

K Adilakshmi from Tullur, who had given five acres of land, said she is happy that farmers are being made partners in the region that originally belonged to them. “I am sure we will learn a lot from Singapore,” she said.

Officials say the farmers are expected to learn from Singapore how to invest the funds they have earned in exchange for their land, “so that Amravati can become another Singapore”.

Critics say while thousands of farmers gave up their land, only those seen to be close to the ruling party were shortlisted for the foreign trip.

A consortium of Singapore firms, Surbana Jurong, is the lead consultant for building Amravati in 20 years at a cost of Rs. 55,000 crore.

The farmers’ group is expected to visit Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and the Singapore Art Museum. There will also be a session on construction laws for apartments.

source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV / Home> Andhra Pradesh> Sections / by Uma Sudhir / October 31st, 2017

Kidambi Srikanth wins French Open Super Series

Dominant: K. Srikanth, who is on a winning spree, exults after taking the French Open with ease on Sunday.
Dominant: K. Srikanth, who is on a winning spree, exults after taking the French Open with ease on Sunday.

Having already completed a hat-trick of Super Series titles, Srikanth won his fourth title of the season.

India’s Kidambi Srikanth’s dream season continued as he brushed aside the challenge of Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in straight games to win the French Open Super Series men’s singles title, in Paris on Sunday.

Having already completed a hat-trick of Super Series titles, Srikanth won his fourth title of the season.

Srikanth, seeded eight in the tournament, took just 34 minutes to get the better of his Japanese opponent 21-14 21-13 in the summit clash.

The win ensured Srikanth, who played his fifth Super Series final this season, bag his second consecutive title in two weeks after winning the Denmark Open in Odense last week.

Srikanth, thus, became only fourth men’s singles player to win four or more Super Series titles in a calendar year.

Going by Srikanth’s current form, it was expected to be a one-sided summit clash and it turned out to be one, except for the first few points of the opening game which was a neck-and-neck fight between the two shuttlers.

It was Nishimoto, who started brightly to race to a 9-5 lead before Srikanth fought back to draw level at 9-9.

From there on it was no looking back as the Indian used his court coverage and superior technique to take a 14-10 lead.

Nishimoto did manage to take some points to reduce the margin to 15-14 before Srikanth used his experience at the highest level to pocket six straight points and win the first game.

Srikanth continued his good form in the second game and won five straight points to take a commanding 10-2 lead.

Nishimoto tried his best to force a comeback and managed to reduce the margin to 13-8 but the Indian showed his class and superiority in crunch situations to keep his lead intact and win the game 21-13 and claim his second consecutive title in as many weeks.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / PTI / Paris – October 29th, 2017

Intl. regatta at Krishnapatnam Port

The Krishnapatnam-India international regatta 2017 will be held as part of the Asian Sailing Federation (ASAF) Youth Sailing Cup 2017-18 series at Krishnapatnam Port, Nellore, from Dec. 27 to 31. The eight earlier editions were held in Chennai.

It will be organised jointly by the Navayuga Sailing Academy, the Yachting Association of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu Sailing Association and the Yachting Association of India (YAI), under the aegis of ASAF. While Krishnapatnam Port will be the venue, the racing area will be in the open sea in front of Krishnapatnam Beach.

The courses to be sailed will be windward/leeward, trapezoid, or any other configuration as may be described in the sailing instructions, which will be available approximately a week before the event at www.iiregatta.in.

The classes with age eligibility in brackets: Single hander: Optimist (Born in 2002 or later), Laser 4.7 (2000 or later), Laser Radial (1999 or later). RS: One; 420, 29er (1998 or later).

For details: Ashok Thakkar (98400 99099) and iiregatta@gmail.com

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – October 27th, 2017

UK surgeons save little hearts

In safe hands: Doctors from Healing Little Hearts, UK with a baby on whom they performed heart surgery at Andhra Hospital in Vijayawada on Friday. | Photo Credit: CH_VIJAYA BHASKAR
In safe hands: Doctors from Healing Little Hearts, UK with a baby on whom they performed heart surgery at Andhra Hospital in Vijayawada on Friday. | Photo Credit: CH_VIJAYA BHASKAR

Camp held at Heart & Brain Institute, Andhra Hospitals

Heart & Brain Institute, Andhra Hospitals, organised a paediatric cardiology and cardiac surgical camp in association with Healing Little Hearts, UK, from October 23 to 27. A team of doctors from reputed hospitals in UK performed 15 heart surgeries free.

The team included paediatric interventional cardiologist, p aediatric cardiac surgeons, paediatric cardiac intensivists, paediatric cardiac anaesthetist, perfusionist, paediatric intensive care nurses and the team led by Dr. Vikram Kudumula, Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist from UK.

The team performed heart surgeries which included atrial septal defect with complications, ventricular septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus with complications, total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, Fallot’s tetralogy, etc.

Andhra Hospitals Managing Director Dr. P. V. Ramana Murthy said they had been doing children heart surgeries regularly for the past two years. Healing little hearts, UK, team had come nine times so far, he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> City> Vijayawada / by Staff Reporter / Vijayawada – October 28th, 2017

4 cannons unearthed in Vizag school

CannonsANDHRA27oct2017

Visakhapatnam :

Four cast iron cannons, believed to hark back to the British Raj, were unearthed at the Queen Mary’s Girls High School here while excavating the ground to build foundation trenches for a new building on Thursday.

Recently , the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan had allocated a two-room building to the school at an estimated cost of `17.6 lakh, keeping in view the increasing number of girl students. An excavator operator, while digging the trenches at about 6.30am, found the cannons and alerted the officials.

According to Vijjeswarapu Edward Paul, an Intach member and heritage conservationist, the British entered Vizagapatam (present Vizag city) as early as 1682. “Vizagapatam was the Northern Division headquarters of the Madras Army of the English East India Company . A Major General-rank officer headed the Vizag unit. The premises of the school and the surroundings housed an arsenal during the British era. However, in about 1860, the arms were shifted to Madras and Singapore. Some of the arms, which were not worthy enough to be shifted, were left here,” said Edward Paul.

APSSA district project officer T Siva Rama Prasad said more studies will be taken up to explore what is hidden underground on the premises by leveraging advanced methods such as imaging technologies. “These cannons can also be placed along the RK Beach road to create awareness among students and general public about our history ,” said Rama Prasad.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Visakhapatnam News / Umamaheshwara Rao / TNN / October 27th, 2017

Guntur gets first badminton academy

It has four matted wooden courts and a viewing gallery for officials

For those aspiring badminton players who long for quality badminton academy in Guntur and Vijayawada, the first badminton academy in the capital region on the premises of Guntur Club on Palakaluru Road, offers top class sporting facilities.

The Guntur Club Badminton Academy was inaugurated on Sunday by Minister for Panchayat Raj and Information Technology Nara Lokesh.

Built at a cost of ₹2 crore, the academy has four matted wooden courts and a viewing gallery for officials.

Club secretary Chukkapalli Ramesh said that more facilities for players would be added, including players change rooms and 24 new rooms were being constructed.

The city of Guntur has produced several top ranking badminton players like Kidambi Srikanth, Nanda Gopal etc, who trained at the B.R Stadium and NTR Municipal Stadiums under local coaches before heading to top quality academies like Pullella Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by  Staff Reporter / Guntur – October 03rd, 2017

National boxing meet from today

The Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) is hosting the 2nd Elite National Boxing Championship in 10 weight categories at Swarnabharati Indoor Stadium, Visakhapatnam, from October 24 to 30 in association with the Boxing Federation of India.

The 1st Elite National Boxing Championship was conducted at Guwahati last year. Shyam Kumar of Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) had bagged a silver medal in the 49-kg category in the championship last year and Indian Railways stood runners-up.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – October 24th, 2017

Guntur scientists break new ground

Tadikonda MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar launching the programme at the Live stock Research Station.
Tadikonda MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar launching the programme at the Live stock Research Station.

Conduct successful trials on transfer of embryo from Ongole cows to other breed

The Ongole breed cow is known for high milk yielding capacities and adaptability in tough conditions.

An innovative cattle breeding technology replicating the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedure developed by the veterinary scientists at the Livestock Research Station, Lam, here is now promising a revolution in cattle breeding.

After successful clinical trials in which the surrogate embryo of the higher genetic Ongole cow is transferred to lower genetic cows under the “Indigenous Bovine Embryo Transfer Mission” at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Livestock Research Station, Lam, Guntur, scientists are now taking the technology to the doorstep of farmers.

Big advantage

The programme has been taken up under the National Mission on Bovine Productivity (NMBP) under the Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, and Andhra Pradesh Livestock Development Agency. “The big advantage that a dairy farmer has is there is an increase of offspring by 5-6 times through the bovine embryo transfer technology. The quality of offspring is also better as the embryo transfer is in between higher genetic animals to lower genetic animals,’’ said officer-in-charge, Livestock Research Station, Dr. Mutha Rao.

Tadikonda MLA and board member of the university Tenali Sravan Kumar launched the programme at the Live stock Research Station, Lam, in the presence of senior officials of the department. Under the National Mission on Bovine Productivity, it was proposed to carry out 1,000 embryo transfers during October 2-10, 2017, across the country and the Embryo Biotechnology laboratory at Livestock Research Station, Lam, has been identified to carry out this activity in Ongole cattle.

“ It will help in protection of the indigenous cow breeds and also help the propagation of the milch breeds of India,” Dr. Mutha Rao said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by P. Samuel Jonathan / Guntur – October 03rd, 2017

Kondapalli toys set for revamp, Andhra Pradesh government invites ideas for new design

There are only about 56 families engaged in the craft at Kondapalli at present, and only five families that make the iconic bullock cart.

A Kondapalli bullock cart.
A Kondapalli bullock cart.

Kondapalli Bommalu, the traditional craft of making wooden figurines and toys in Kondapalli of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, is set for a makeover.

The brightly coloured miniature bullock cart, which is usually gifted by Andhra Pradesh CMs and government officials to visiting dignitaries and foreign guests, will now be a “moving” one. The state government has called for designs from artisans of the small community that makes these handicrafts to develop a “moving” Kondapalli bullock cart, General Administration Secretary N Srikant said. The government has also announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for the winning design.

Officials said that given the tough competition from cheaper Chinese toys, declining popularity of motionless toys, and shrinking number of families involved in Kondapalli Bommalu, the state government has decided to preserve this craft and save the artisans from penury by asking them to redesign models and make them more marketable.

Kondapalli toys are made by a community of artisans with centuries-old techniques. Their ancestors migrated from Rajasthan over 400 years ago and settled at Kondapalli, 40 km from Vijayawada, where they used soft white sandalwood from nearby forests to make the figurines.

There are only about 56 families engaged in the craft at Kondapalli at present, and only five families that make the iconic bullock cart. Five other families make the dancing doll, originally called Thanjavur Doll.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> India / by Express News Service / Hyderabad – October 24th, 2017

‘Sea Cadets symbol of courage’

Principal Secretary for Sports L.V.Subrahmanyam interacting with the water sports students during his visit to Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Collector Pravin Kumar looks on.   | Photo Credit: arranged

Principal Secretary for Sports L.V.Subrahmanyam interacting with the water sports students during his visit to Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Collector Pravin Kumar looks on. | Photo Credit: arranged

Official visits sports training camp at Rushikonda

Special Chief Secretary (Sports) L.V. Subrahmanyam described Sea Cadets as a ‘symbol of courage’.

Addressing sea cadets at a programme organised at Rushikonda here on Saturday, Mr. Subrahmanyam called upon the cadets to complete their five-year training with flying colours. Later addressing the yachting and water sports trainees, he called upon them to breathe sports day in and day out with their target fixed on the Olympic Games.He said the government was implementing several programmes for the promotion of sports. Collector Pravin Kumar said priority was being given to the development of water sports at Rushikonda. He said 70 persons would be trained at the camp being held at Rushikonda.

Sports Association of AP MD Bangarraju spoke.

A trial run was conducted with 10 kayaks, two surf boats and a yacht attracted tourists present on the beach.

Sports Development Officer June Gallyot and APTDC ED Sriramulu Naidu were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – October 21st, 2017