Monthly Archives: December 2017

A dream come true for Miss Vizag winner

Tryst with glamour world Kamala Poojitha | Photo Credit: Special Arangement
Tryst with glamour world Kamala Poojitha | Photo Credit: Special Arangement

Miss Vizag winner Kamala Poojitha shares her experiences of walking the ramp for the first time

A daily dose of yoga and eating right are the mantra that recently crowned Miss Vizag Kamala Poojitha follows. The 20-year-old who won the beauty pageant this year feels that the platform boosted her self confidence in many ways.

Not only that, it has altered her future plans as well. While academics still remains her top priority, Poojitha plans to channelize all the limelight she is getting in a positive way.

“I want to explore a career in acting and will be applying for a diploma course in theatre and acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London,” she says.

Poojitha won the title after competing with 22 others in the finale of the contest. The contestants were given a grooming session by experts. The long journey of The Miss Vizag contest has not only grown bigger with time, it has provided a platform to many girls from middle-class families, lifting their dreams to the next level. For majority of the participants, the contest had been their first tryst with the fashion world.

“The experience was great. We had a wonderful bonhomie backstage as most of us were walking the ramp for the first time. In fact, winning the crown was a big surprise for me!” exclaims an excited Poojitha. A final year student of B.Com, Poojitha believes in leading a healthy lifestyle. “I practice yoga from my childhood. When it comes to food, I rarely eat outside and always prefer home-cooked food. Fruits are an important part of my diet,” she says.

So how did she prepare for the beauty pageant? “It was more of a mental preparation for me. Instilling the self-confidence was important for me as I knew that would reflect on stage as well. I made sure that I was on a healthy diet all along. The grooming sessions and choreography classes helped me to present myself on the ramp,” she says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Fashion / by Nivedita Ganguly / December 16th, 2017

Telugu poet-cartoonist gets Akademi honour

DeviPriyaTELAN22dec2017

Hyderabad :

Telugu poet cartoonist, writer and author Devipriya has received Sahitya Akademi award for his anthology of poems, Gali Rangu.

Sahitya Akademi on Thursday announced the awards for poets and writers in different languages.

Earlier, the executive board of Sahitya Akademi headed by its president Prof Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari approved the names recommended by a jury drawn from 24 Indian languages. Seven books of novel and five each of poetry, short stories and literary criticism and one of play and essays won the awards for 2017.

According to K Sreenivasa Rao, secretary of Sahitya Akademi, the award carries a casket containing an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rupees one lakh. It will be presented at a function to be held in New Delhi on February 12, 2018 coinciding with the Festival of Letters organised by the Akademi.

Devipriya’s ‘running commentary’, a daily cartoon in poetry, in Telugu dailies had won him a pride of place in journalism. He is also credited with introducing a new genre of writings in Telugu called Paigambara Kavulu in contrast to the Digambara movement of 1960s.

Devipriya was born in Guntur on August 15, 1949, and rose to fame with his verse, prose and cartoons. His real name is Khaja Hussain. Devipriya won laurels for his poetic book, Pitta Kooda Egiri Povalsinde, published in 2002. He introduced a new literary concept with his cartoons with the comment in verse. In fact, he is hailed as the father of poetic cartoon strips in Telugu. His first publication was Amma Chettu.

Some of his works are Gareebu Geetalu, Chepa Chiluka, Neeti Putta, Tuphanu Tummeda, Insha Allah, and Samajananda Svaami. Devipriya’s writings reflect the essence of life, particularly of the downtrodden and the deprived classes of society. He penned songs for a number of films. Several Telugu poets and writers including Telangana Sahitya Akademi chairman Nandini Siddha Reddy congratulated Devipriya on winning the award.

Noted Telugu poet and writer Khadar Mohiuddin said Devipriya is a multi-faceted personality with proficiency in Telugu and English. “He is a trendsetter in Telugu verse, prose as well as journalism,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News / by Syed Akbar / TNN / December 22nd, 2017

TemplateMonster to launch operations

It will start with two 100-seaters in city, Vijayawada

TemplateMonster, of the U.S., a $15 million company with specialisation in e-solutions, digital marketing and training, will soon launch its operations in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.

“We will start with a 100-seater facility each in both the cities and later scale up the manpower to 500,” TemplateMonster’s India partner Satish Babu told The Hindu .

He said initially the Andhra Pradesh Non-Resident Telugu (APNRT) Society promised to provide rented accommodation. In Visakhapatnam, it is likely to get space at Millennium Tower, which is on the verge of completion at Rushikonda.

On future plans, he said they would explore acquiring a site to develop a big development centre in both the cities depending on the response to their operations.

TemplateMonster CEO David Braun, who reached here to attend a two-day international startup workshop, said they were excited to invest in Andhra Pradesh, which was all set to emerge as the Silicon Valley of India.

$1 million startup support

Tech-Mark Training India in partnership with TemplateMonster is hosting the international startup workshop for which over 100 registrations had been received.

The aim of the programme is to identify startups for mentorship, grooming and funding under a programme named YuvBharat, a project of Tech-Mark India, a sister concern of Tech_Mark Pte. Ltd. (Singapore).

In support of Startup India, TemplateMonster, U.S., has partnered with YuvBharat to give $1 million worth of technology products, training and mentoring to enable startups to market their products and services globally.

“We have an ambitious programme to create young entrepreneurs in India. We will give cash awards and certificates of excellence to three best startups, three best at ideation level and mementos and certificates of excellence to best three women startup entrepreneurs,” Mr. Babu, co-founder of Tech-Mark said.

He said each startup registered with YuvBharat would get $1,000 worth of content management system, web, newsletter and business promotion to strengthen startup ecosystem.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Santosh Patnaik / Visakhapatnam – December 21st, 2017

Youth award for son of the soil

Bulusu Rajasekhar, a native of the town and an alumni of Lendi Engineering College, was one among the 25 youth selected for the National Youth Award 2015-16 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, in recognition of his services to society.

The award would be presented to him at the National Youth Festival in Jaipur (Rajasthan) on January 12. Mr. Rajasekhar took active part in creating awareness among the people on Swachh Bharat, blood donation, protection of environment, and HIV/AIDS.

He had been presented the Bharat Seva Sri Award in the past and an appreciation certificate from the district administration in 2015.

Collector Vivek Yadav and SETVIZ CEO Satyanarayana congratulated Mr. Rajasekhar on his achievements.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Correspondent / Vizianagaram – December 20th, 2017

13 tourism firms to set up shop in Vizag; projects to go live in 2 years

Visakhapatnam :

The state government has shortlisted 13 firms in the tourism sector to set up their ventures in Andhra Pradesh.
The tourism projects range in size from Rs 20 crore to Rs 200 crore. Most of the projects are coming up along the city’s coastline.

Firms from the United States and even from neighbouring Nepal find a mention on the list of shortlisted firms.

Some of the projects include theme parks, resorts, go-karting tracks, five-star hotels and amusement parks

The city’s excellent air, rail and road connectivity is one of the main reasons behind the tourism firms’ interest in setting up shop in Vizag.

The AP tourism department in association with the sub-committee of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (APCCIF) have received nearly 30 proposals from various places in the country during its recent stakeholders meet at various places including Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Hyderabad in October and November.

After scrutinising those proposals, the authorities have finally zeroed in on these 13 firms.

Tourism minister B Akhila Priya is likely to announce the names of the shortlisted firms at a formal meeting next week in Vijayawada on December 22 (Friday). The ministry would also interact with the representatives of the firms and would clarify the doubts and grievances of the representatives over the establishment of the projects in the specified time announced by the department.

As per the new tourism policy rules, the government would allocate land to the firms, which in turn have to pay 5% of the land value as a lease amount to the government per year. For example, if the land value is Rs 1 crore, the firm will have to pay Rs 5 lakh as lease amount to the government.

The government received proposals from nearly 30 firms. Nearly 80% of the 13 firms are showing interest to set up their projects in Visakhapatnam city. Nearly 80% of the tourism projects are located along the Vizag coast. The AP government will give land to the firms on a long term lease basis spanning about 33 years.

APCCIF chairman G Sambasiva Rao told TOI that some of the firms are asking the government to reduce the lease amount to 3-4% of the land value. “The lease issue would be discussed soon in the next meet, mostly by next week. We want to see that all the projects are grounded by the next two years. Nearly 80% of the projects are coming up in Vizag and the remaining projects in neighbouring places like Vizianagaram,” Rao said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Visakhapatnam News / by V. Kamalakara Rao / TNN / December 18th, 2017

CM lauds SECM for winning national award

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with SECM CEO A. Chandra Sekhar Reddy in Vijayawada on Friday.   | Photo Credit: HANDOUT
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with SECM CEO A. Chandra Sekhar Reddy in Vijayawada on Friday. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu congratulated the State Energy Conservation Mission (SECM) for winning the National Energy Conservation Award – 2017 in the State Designated Agency category.

He told Principal Secretary (Energy) Ajay Jain and SECM CEO A. Chandra Sekhar Reddy to step up their efforts for expanding the energy conservation and energy efficiency activities that play a crucial role in building a Green Amaravati.

Showing the award at the Amaravati Deep Dive Workshop, Mr. Jain said that it was for the third consecutive year that the SECM won the distinction.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Vijayawada – December 16th, 2017

Museum that captures Kalamkari art

Treasure trove: Pitchuka Varun Kumar at the Kalamkari Museum at Pedana in Krishna district. | Photo Credit: T_APPALANAIDU
Treasure trove: Pitchuka Varun Kumar at the Kalamkari Museum at Pedana in Krishna district. | Photo Credit: T_APPALANAIDU

Varun Kumar of A.P. showcases the rich but dying art form in all its splendour

In the early 20th Century, the houses of Kalamkari craftsmen in Masulipatam lay silent with piles of unused wooden blocks covered in dust and cobwebs, as observed by Nelly Sethna, a scholar and authority on Kalamkari.

A century later, craftsmen’s houses look much the same, leaving the Indian textile art to die a slow death, owing to flourishing screen printing with chemical dyes which have replaced wooden blocks and natural dyes.

Finding no way to rescue the art form, 24-year-old Pitchuka Varun Kumar, grandson of Pitchuka Veera Subbaiah, has established a museum for Kalamkari art.

Mr. Subbaiah was one of the founders of Machilipatnam Kalamkari in Pedana (1970s) but it is now struggling for survival. Ironically, the art had gone into oblivion in Machilipatnam, from where it originated. In 2013, Machilipatnam Kalamkari got the Geographical Indication Registry tag.

The museum is a treasure trove of Kalamkari art. It has a collection of old wooden blocks with Persian, Dutch (Chintz), Mughal, traditional Indian and Buddhist motifs, fabrics, rare photographs and details of the process of natural dyeing, wooden block making, printing and washing in river Krishna. Tree of Life, a wall-hanger created with 212 wooden blocks by his team of artists, is also displayed at the museum.

“Hailing from a Kalamkari art family, I want our museum to offer a glimpse of the true art form and procedures involved in it to visitors and textile art lovers,” Mr. Kumar told The Hindu.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by T. Appala Naidu / Pedana – December 13th, 2017

‘Missile woman’ receives award

Tessy Thomas receiving the Dr. Pinnamaneni and Smt Seethadevi Foundation Award in Vijayawada on Saturday.   | Photo Credit: CH_VIJAYA BHASKAR
Tessy Thomas receiving the Dr. Pinnamaneni and Smt Seethadevi Foundation Award in Vijayawada on Saturday. | Photo Credit: CH_VIJAYA BHASKAR

Advises students to draw inspiration from Abdul Kalam at a college here

‘Missile Woman of India’ and Director of Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) Tessy Thomas was presented the Dr Pinnamaneni and Smt. Seethadevi Foundation award here on Saturday. Foundation Managing Trustee C Nageswara Rao and trust member and daughter of Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao after whom the awarded is named, Ch Sudha, presented the award.

The Missile Woman now shares the award with distinguished scientists like A.P.J.Abdul Kalam— who was also her mentor, M.S.Swaminathan and Prof C.N.R. Rao.

Prof V Ramalingaswami and Sribhashyam Appalacharyalu were the first to be conferred the award in 1989. The other eminent persons who received the award include V Kurien, Lata Mangeshkar, S.P.Balasubramanyam, R.K Laxman, K.J.Jesudas, Karan Singh, B.G.Verghese, Ramanand Sagar, Sudha Murty, E.Sreedharan, Zakir Hussain, Y.V.Reddy and Changati Koteswara Rao.

The Gramapragathi Puraskaram was presented to the Swacha Sundara Challapalli Udyamam represented by doctor couple D R K Prasad and Padmavati.

Earlier the Missile woman spoke to the students of the V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Kanuru.

She asked the students to ensure a strong hold on the basics of engineering, mathematics and physics to be successful in any area.

Sharing her experiences of working along with former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the missile technologies, she urged the students to take Abdul Kalam as their role model and work hard for the overall growth of the nation.

She stressed on the need to be skilful in the latest technologies such as cloud computing, big data analytics, Internet of Things and cyber security as there were many opportunities across the nation in both public and private sectors.

Space technologies

Students were all charged up after listening to her talk and actively participated in the interaction that primarily centred around missile and space technologies.

President of the Siddhartha Academy N. Venkateswarulu, vice-president C. Nageswara Rao, Principal A.V. Ratna Prasad, CSE HoD V. Srinivasa Rao and heads of other departments M. Suneetha and PVRL Narasimham were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – December 16th, 2017

CM dedicates first digital village

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu pressing a button to inaugurate the ‘digital village’ at Bandarupalli in Guntur district, during the 101st Founder’s Day celebrations of Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. | Photo Credit: arranged
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu pressing a button to inaugurate the ‘digital village’ at Bandarupalli in Guntur district, during the 101st Founder’s Day celebrations of Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. | Photo Credit: arranged

Takes part in KVB’s 101st Founders’ Day in Vizag

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu dedicated the first ‘digital village’, facilitated by the Karur Vysya Bank (KVB), at Bandarupalli in Guntur district, remotely from the city, on Saturday.

The Chief Minister participated as the chief guest at the 101st Founders’ Day of the KVB here.

The KVB has adopted Bandarupalli, a remote village without banking facilities, and set up a digital branch there.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Naidu said the visionary leadership of its founders in identifying the banking needs of the local community in Karur (Tamil Nadu) and thereby earning the trust of the people has put the Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) on a firm footing.

He called upon the authorities of the KVB as also other banks to shift real-time online systems to provide the best services to the public. While appreciating the bank for contributing ₹1 crore from its CSR fund to Visakhapatnam district, the Chief Minister said other corporates should also contribute to the benefit of the community.

KVB Chairman Swaminathan traced the origin and growth of the bank during the last 100 years. Founded by M.A. Venkatarama Chettiar and Athi Krishna Chettiar with a capital of ₹1 lakh in Karur in 1916, the KVB today emerged as a major bank in the private sector with 760 branches in 18 States and three Union Territories, in addition to over 1,700 ATMs and 500 Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs).

The bank has the second largest customer base in Andhra Pradesh after TN.

MD and CEO of KVB P.R. Seshadri said the bank was providing free wi-fi facility in Bandarupalli village, facilitating online payments and digital banking and provision of micro ATM s at commercial establishments in the village.

KVB Director Suryanarayana spoke.

Ministers Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Sidda Raghava Rao and Visakhapatnam MP Kambhampati Haribabu were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – December 16th, 2017

Preserving priceless books for posterity

Rare collection: A file photo of a staff member showing the palm leaf manuscripts in the library. | Photo Credit: C.V.SUBRAHMANYAM
Rare collection: A file photo of a staff member showing the palm leaf manuscripts in the library. | Photo Credit: C.V.SUBRAHMANYAM

Digitalisation drive launched at iconic Gowthami library

As part of protecting and safeguarding old books and manuscripts, the digitalisation of Sri Gowthami Regional Library has just taken off. Foundation was laid for new buildings for renovation and restoration was also done recently.

At present the library has 1.03 lakh books — 71,130 Telugu, 21,974 English, 7,967 Hindi, 372 Urdu , 667 others, 411 palm leaf manuscripts, six copper plates, and 40 unpublished manuscripts.

Of the 40,000 books that have been partially or completely damaged, digitalisation of 30,000 is being taken up with the support of a team of computer operators monitored by the project in charge Aripirala Narayana Rao, former reader in Sri YN College, Narsapur.

Prof. Narayana Rao said that about 30 lakh pages have to be digitalised. Five computers and two high-end scanners brought from Bengaluru each are being used for the purpose.

Akula’s initiative

The project was initiated by city MLA Dr. Akula Satyanarayana and the total cost of the project is ₹10 lakh for the first year. “It will take at least two years to accomplish the task,” said Prof. Narayana Rao. The State Bank of India has sponsored computers, printer and air- conditioners worth ₹4.5 lakh. The books that are being digitalised include Sanskrit Bible, the first published copy of the Britannica Encyclopedia, silver-coated stylus for writing on palm leaves, copper plates and palm leaf manuscripts, and 15,000 rare books.

“Viveka Vardhini magazines which were edited by Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu, Hitha Suchini published in the year 1845 and popular Swami Seva penned by Muddu Narasimha Naidu in 1862 are also being digitalised,” Prof. Narayana Rao said. The Manasu Foundation of Bangalore has acceded to their request to digitalise some valuable books.

Gowthami library is the biggest one in the region after the Thanjavur library in Tamil Nadu. It was set up by Nalam Krishna Rao in 1898 and christened Sri Veeresalingam Panthulu Library. Addanki Satyanarayana Sarma, a noted scholar, started another one — Vasuraya Library.

Following the advice of the elite in the city, the two libraries were merged and named as Gowthami Grandhalayam and registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1920. Vavilala Gopalakrishnaiah and AB Nageswara Rao were instrumental in getting regional status to the library. In 1979, the government took over the library.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by B.V.S. Bhaskar /  Rajamahendravarman – December 09th, 2017