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Medical care is just a click away for elderly kin
Young innovator builds device that helps patients remotely connect to five people
When a senior citizen or a physically-challenged/bedridden person staying alone faces a medical emergency, he/she would have no way of immediately reaching out to their loved ones.
This prompted rural innovator Kurakula Pavan to come up with the ‘Emergency Health Intimation’ device. The GSM-based device is equipped with a SIM card and remotely connects a bedridden person to five friends or relatives. All one has to do is plug the device into a power socket near one’s bed (which works for 48 hours on battery support). In case of an emergency, the person has to simply touch the vibrating sensor-based device that not only blares an alarm to alert the neighbours, but also calls five pre-registered mobile numbers across the globe. “The calls go out on a rotation basis to each of the five numbers, till someone reaches the spot to reset the device,” Mr. Pavan told The Hindu.
Mr. Pavan said that the device would infuse confidence and courage among senior citizens who are staying alone in villages. “My friend’s ailing parent died of a cardiac arrest and his inability to convey it to his son sleeping in the adjoining air-conditioned room prompted me to come up with an invention that could bridge the communication gap,” Mr. Pavan said.
Hailing from the little-known Moram village in Palamaner mandal of Chittoor district, Mr. Pavan is widely acclaimed as a rural innovator who received the ‘Young Scientist’ award in 2009 from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He is known for applying principles of basic science to address small, yet pressing problems in rural areas.
Many achievements
His first major invention was to remotely operate a water pump, which helped save farmers’ lives from electric shocks and snakebites. Some of his innovations are a home burglar alarm, honey bee-like buzzing sound to ward off tuskers from fields in forest fringe villages, rural FM station, heartbeat monitoring system, two-wheeler security system, power generation from ceiling fan, self-operating street light system for civic bodies and so on, developed in over a decade’s time through his ‘Pavan Empower Solutions’.
These won him laurels, with some of his endeavours also fetching him commercial success.
Mr. Pavan recently received an award from the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD Hyderabad) for the device that is reckoned as a path-breaking intervention in ensuring rural healthcare.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by A.D. Rangarajan / Tirupati – November 11th, 2019
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01 Nov
Rare sculpture with 624 ‘naga’ carvings found in Guntur
They said the broken slab was found lying upside down on an ant hill mound, and that it was shifted and erected on the north-eastern corner of the Ramesvara temple sometime ago.
Guntur :
A rare sculpture with 624 ‘nagas’ carved on a single slab has been found at Velpuru in Krosur mandal of Guntur district. Based on the information provided by the locals, archaeologists rushed to the spot on Wednesday and examined it thoroughly. They said the broken slab was found lying upside down on an ant hill mound, and that it was shifted and erected on the north-eastern corner of the Ramesvara temple some time ago.
The granite slab, measuring 2’-0 x 6’-0 x 0’-4’’, has 24 rows on its front side, with 26 ‘nagas’ carved in each row. The archaeologists surmised that 576 similar carvings are present on the broken part of the slab that was yet to be located. They said that the sculpture had a lot of archaeological significance as it was found in Velpuru, where 35 inscriptions of Vishnukundin, Vengi Chalukya, Velanati Chola, Kakatiya, Reddy, Vijayanagara and Gajapati rulers were discovered.
They made an appeal to the local community to safeguard the rare sculpture and requested the Tourism department to operate ‘Naga tourist circuit’, connecting Durga Nageswara temple, Pedakallepalli and Subbarayudu temples at Mopidevi of Krishna district with the sculpture found in Velupuru.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / October 31st, 2019
Billasurgam caves expected to get facelift
District tourism authorities draw up plans for its restoration, estimate cost of project at ₹5 crore
Located an hour’s drive from Kurnool is a small village called K.K. Kottala which houses the Billasurgam caves, where geologists have discovered cave art more than 5,000 years old.
Despite their stunning beauty, the Billasurgam caves in Betamcherla mandal of Kurnool district have remained an untapped tourist destination — something that the district tourism authorities are now planning to address in a bid to preserve history.
The caves were first discovered by famous British geologist Robert Bruce Foote in 1884. Foote was the same geologist who discovered paleolithic stone tools at Pallavaram in Chennai.
Prehistoric artefacts
During decades of archaeological excavations at the site since its discovery, numerous stone tools, animal remains, and fragments of pottery were found at the caves, proving the existence of prehistoric human activity at the caves.
However, the caves are now long overdue for a facelift. Surrounded by quarries and mines, the Billasurgam caves have been left mostly untouched ever since independence, with the exception of the odd visits of scholars and locals.
District tourism authorities are now planning to propose to the State Government to revive the caves and turn them into a tourist attraction. Officials have conducted initial surveys and are expected to produce a first-visit report to the government.
Speaking to The Hindu, District Tourism Officer, B. Venkateswarlu said that preserving the Billsurgam caves is high on their agenda. “We will also ask the archaeology department to look into the matter, and list the caves as a protected monument,” he said.
Lack of access
Currently, the authorities are planning to clean the caves and make it more accessible for visitors.
While it is a popular attraction among the local youth, the caves require development, cleaning and pathways for it to become a primary attraction in the district.
There are two roads leading to the caves – one from Betamcharla mandal headquarters and the other from Palkuru. Both the roads are kutcha roads which cannot accommodate auto-rickshaws and four-wheelers.
Mr. Venkateswarlu said that the development of the caves could cost at least ₹5 crore. “However, we need only ₹5 lakh right now to start the process of cleaning the caves. Moreover, this money, if sanctioned, could also be used to renovate the kutcha road,” he said.
Development plans
Talking about the development plans, the DTO said that roads need to be laid by the Panchayati Raj department, while avenue plantations must be taken up by the district water management agency. “Apart from that, the Revenue Department must also demarcate the land available, and raise fences,” Mr. Venkateswarlu said.
“As it is the constituency of Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, we also plan on sending the proposal to him directly. With a push from Mr. Reddy, the caves could become a major tourist attraction,” Mr. Venkateswarlu said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Tadi Vidura / Kurnool – October 25th, 2019