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Memorial for Prakasam Pantulu long overdue
His island villa in Ongole, house in Vinodarayunipalem and Vijayotsavam Stupa paint a picture of neglect
Statesman Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu’s island villa in Ongole, his house in Vinodarayunipalem and the Salt Satyagraha site near Devarampadu are forgotten for most of the year except on the great man’s birth and death anniversaries.
Little has been done to convert these structures into memorials except for the occassional lip service twice a year on his birth and death anniversaries. His admirers feel that building the memorials would be a fitting tribute to the great freedom fighter and politician who earned the epithet of ‘Andhra Kesari’ for his opposition to British rule.
The ‘Vijayotsavam Stupa’ in Devarampadu village, built in 1935 to mark the launch of Prakasam Pantulu’s Salt Satyagraha and unveiled by Babu Rajendra Prasad, also cries for attention with the road leading to it in an urgent need of repair.
Several times in the past, VIPs had skipped visiting this site on important occasions like Independence Day, Republic Day and Prakasam Pantulu’s birth and death anniversaries. A library which has a good collection of books on the freedom struggle is also in a dilapidated condition, lament villagers.
“We have been pleading successive governments to develop the site into a tourist spot by building a park. But our efforts have not borne fruit so far,” they said.
Assurances
Taking note of the poorly maintained road in the midst of lush green fields, Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, who experienced a bumpy ride on Friday, said that the Government would lay a cement road to the historic site so that the youth could draw inspiration from the life of the great man, who had become the Prime Minister of Madras Presidency as well as the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh when it was formed in 1953.
The Education Department would soon construct a new building for the library at the site where Prakasam Pantulu had spent his last days in a mango orchard, Education Minister A. Suresh promised.
Vinodarayunipalem, where Prakasam Pantulu was born, too lacked a befitting memorial, as also the island villa in Ongole from where he had led the freedom struggle and ran his ‘Swarajya’ newspaper. Today, a private college occupies most of the space. Even now, a memorial could be built on the vacant land available on the premises, felt Andhra Kesari Prakasam Seva Samiti leader P. Venkateswarlu.
Prakasam Pantulu’s grandson T. Gopalakrishna said the YSRCP government could draw lessons from the way Prakasam Pantalu administered the State and grapple with bifurcation blues.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Ongole – August 24th, 2019
Anantapur academy bags Khel Protsahan Puraskar
ASA has produced many top players
The Anantapur Sports Academy has been chosen for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar-2019. The award will be presented at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on August 29.
The academy, promoted by the Rayalaseema Development Trust (RYDT), an NGO founded in 1969, has been promoting sports among rural youth and produced many national and international-level sportspersons.
It has created many world-class sporting facilities and holds several national-level cricket matches too at its facility in Anantapur.
The award will be received by the sports academy programme director Moncho Ferrer.
Four categories
A release from the academy said the objective of the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar was to encourage and promote the involvement of corporates, voluntary organisations, sports control boards etc. in the promotion and development of sports. The award is given in four categories: a) identifying and nurturing of budding/young talent, b) encouragement of sports through Corporate Social Responsibility, c) employment of sports persons and sports welfare measures, d) sport For development.
On being selected for the award, Mr. Moncho Ferrer said, “Firstly, we appreciate the efforts of the Government of India in acknowledging the contribution of sports towards the development of children and communities and recognising the initiatives by having sports for development as a category for the award.”
‘11,000 being trained’
“This recognition reaffirms our commitment and gives us the belief that we are heading in the right direction,” said Sai Krishna Pulluru, director of the academy.
“The RYDT believes that rural children’s participation in sports is necessary for their growth, self-esteem, and confidence as well as to address the challenges being faced by them due to the prevailing inequalities in rural areas,” he added.
In 2000, the RYDT initiated the Anantapur Sports Academy. Currently, the RYDT-ASA runs programmes in seven sporting disciplines – hockey, football, cricket, judo, softball, kho-kho, and kabaddi – through 90 centres across Anantapur district and engages more than 10,840 children and youth, with 45% of them being girls.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Special Correspondent / Anantapur – August 23rd, 2019
Nellore: NRI imparts knowledge on robotics to ZP students
Programme instill awareness on robotics among rurals
Nellore :
In a laudable initiative, an NRI student Niharika has been sharing her knowledge on robotics with Class IX students of ZP High School at Muthukur, 30 km from Nellore.
Incidentally, she is part of the school’s robotics team-The Steel Hawks and is a budding engineer with a big heart.
For the students, it is something like a Cinderella story, straight out of a silver screen like Sreemanthudu of Mahesh Babu, where the film star, after having graduated from top-notch US Schools, comes down to his native place to give a whiff of fresh breath of AI.
Niharika Kotamreddy is a Class 12 student from Townsend Harris High School in New York and she is part of her school’s robotics team. She took classes on the subject for three weeks in Muthukur High School.
Teachers in the school opined that the AI & robotics programme infused new energy into the students who saw the method of teaching from a different plank altogether which improved their interest in studies but gave them a new direction to look at.
The AI & robotics programme instilled a sense of awareness on robotics amongst the rural children, near her hometown Nellore, thus creating opportunities for the underprivileged rural gems to sharpen their intellect and skill.
Daughter of a software professional Kotamreddy Vishnuvardhan Reddy and Bindu, working in the UN at New York, Niharika said that she is keen on keeping in touch with the students and will continue to make use of her holidays to keep their interest on robotics alive.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Pathri Rajasekhar / August 09th, 2019
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Vizag traffic constable wins gold at international event
A traffic police constable from Visakhapatnam, P. Krishna, won gold at a triathlon event in the ongoing 18th World Police & Fire Games.
The event is being conducted at Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, from August 8 to 18. About 70 nations are taking part in the event.
Mr. Krishna joined the Visakhapatnam City Police as a constable in 2009 and is presently posted at Bheemunipatnam Traffic Police Station. Divis Labs has extended financial support for Mr. Krishna’s trip. He is an athlete and international-level swimmer. He has also bagged several medals in various events and has brought laurels to the police department at the national and international level.
Earlier, he represented India in the Ironman Triathlon Championship held at Busselton, Western Australia, in December 2017 and secured 101st place out of 3,000 participants. He also participated in the World Ironman Triathlon Championship held in Barcelona in October 2018, and secured 125th place out of 3,500 participants.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Visakhapatnam – August 18th, 2019