Mayor Pantam Rajani Sesha Sai, MLAs Akula Satyanarayana and Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary going round the exhibition after inaugurating it in Rajahmundry on Sunday.— PHOTO: S. RAMBABU
Young tribal artisans from Maredumilli agency area, who honed their skills with a special training programme in making of artefacts, have made the audience spellbound by displaying a wide range of artefacts made of bamboo in a special exhibition arranged at Hotel River Bay here on Sunday.
As many as 30 artisans from the agency area were chosen for a month-long training programme conducted by the Balakavi Educational Seva Trust (BEST), an NGO, from April 1.
Master trainer Prabhal Saikia and his team from Assom helped the tribal youth to hone their skills in making artefacts by using bamboos.
MLAs Akula Satyanarayana, Gorantla Buchayya Chowdary inaugurated the exhibition.
Mayor Pantam Rajani Sesha Sai attended as special guest.
President of the BEST B. Padmaja thanked the ITDA and APSSDC for choosing their organisation for the training programme.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Rajamahendravaram – May 02nd, 2016
Uppada sari is among the products that obtained the prestigious tag. —File photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam
The brand is a direct way to penetrate the national market, says Vishesh Nautiyal, South India Director, Weavers’ Service Centre.
Ten handloom products of the State have obtained the India Handloom Brand (IHB) tag of the Ministry of Textiles, which will help promote them in the global market.
According to the Weavers’ Service Centre (WSC) in Vijayawada, prominent among them include Dharmavaram silk sari and Pavada of Anantapur district; Madavaram cotton sari of Kadapa district; Venkatagiri cotton sari of Nellore district; Polavaram cotton sari of Krishna district; Mangalagiri sari of Guntur district; and Uppada sari of East Godavari district.
“We are doing research for identifying eligible handloom products in Andhra Pradesh to recommend them for the IHB tag,” WSC Deputy Director K. Ravindra told The Hindu .
Mr. Ravindra said that the recent buyer-seller meeting held in Hyderabad yielded the expected result as the branded handloom products witnessed great demand.
Speaking over phone from Chennai, Weavers Service Centre’s South India Director Vishesh Nautiyal said that the work of the weaver or manufacturer would go beyond the borders through the IHB tag.
“The IHB speaks about the quality and standards of the respective product. The branded products are being sold by renowned retail malls in Indian cities. The brand is a direct way to penetrate the national market,” said Mr. Nautiyal.
The Ministry of Textiles has identified eligible individual manufactures/cooperative societies for production of IHB products.
The brand is a direct way to penetrate the national market –Vishesh Nautiyal ,South India Director, Weavers’ Service Centre
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by T. Appala Naidu / Machilipatnam – April 30th, 2016
The amount was granted to enable her to take part in a series of international tournaments to be held in different cities of the U.S. in May and June.
Former World under-10 and National under-13 girls chess champion Nuttaki Priyanka was granted Rs. 2 lakh by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and the cheque was handed over the player on his behalf by Central MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao here on Saturday.
The amount was granted to enable her to take part in a series of international tournaments to be held in different cities of the U.S. in May and June.
“First she will take part in the Chicago Open from May 26 to 30, and later she will vie for honours at the World Open in Philadelphia from June 30 to July 4. She will take part in World Open women championship at the same city from July 5 to 7,” said Ratna Rao Bobba, president of Mustabada Sports and Educational Academy.
Ms. Priyanka, as a pass time, started learning chess during summer vacations after her second class exams. She learned the nuances quickly to win district-level honours.
However she honed skills in a methodical manner after joining Mustabada academy.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – May 01st, 2016
ICONIC LANDMARK:Visitors enjoy traditional idli, dosa tiffins at the Babai Hotel at Gandhinagar in Vijayawada.— Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
The eatery had become so famous that super stars like ANR, NTR used to visit it
The eatery had become so famous that super stars like ANR, NTR used to visit it
Seven-decade-old popular restaurant and no change in menu? That may come as a big surprise for the epicureans but Babai hotel, a city landmark, which has turned 73, does not believe in change for the sake of it.
“We will continue the same tradition to serve the hungry stomachs and fill up the yearning hearts with great taste with our stock menu – idli, masala-dosa, godhuma ravva upma, podi-dosa and pongal – maintaining the quality and taste. We will not add any new recipe to our menu that brought us all round recognition”, said Babai Hotel proprietor Valveti Lakshmi Narisimiha Rao.
Among the best
“Our hotel has made it again. The world’s largest travel website, Trip Advisor accredited it as fifth best hotel out of around 116 restaurants in the city. The hotel got good reviews by many people in the site applauding the taste of the tiffins specially the ghee-soaked idlis and hot pongal.”
Mr. Narasimha Rao said that the hotel became a brand name in many five-star hotels as their menu-card read ‘Babai hotel idli’. Going into the history, the inspiration behind the name, Babai Hotel was established in 1942 by Patruni Samba Murthi. He became popular as ‘Babai’ to one and all. In turn, he used to greet rank and file affectionately with the same salutation – ‘Babai’. Former President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy also expressed his gratitude for the services of the hotel.
Babai passed away in 1985, leaving name and fame of the hotel to his adopted nephew, Chanti (Valiveti Lakshmi Narasimha Rao) who is the current proprietor of the hotel. The bigwigs from the Telugu film industry like Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao (NTR), Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), Savitri, Chandra Mohan and a host of top politicians were frequent visitors to relish the tiffins at the Babai Hotel.
This despite the fact that the eatery was small for celebrities to come by, they took great liking to the food here as compared to what was served by many five-star hotels.
In the hands of heirs, the hotel was renovated into a two-storey building in October 2007. “It was great pleasure to have breakfast here at any time, the taste is awesome. Signature recipes unchanged despite passing of years; there is absolutely no change in the recipes including the mouth-watering chutneys of coconut and ginger with chilli powder, along with butter and ghee. The Idlis are literally soaked in ghee and topped with dollops of white butter for good measure”, said Syed Nadir Basha, a daily customer of this hotel since 1981. Basha is a native of Kurnool and settled in Vijayawada.
“Though the culture and structure of the city has changed, the unchanged part is the ongoing flocking of customers at the door in the early hours for the dishes of inexplicable taste. The breakfast is as sumptuous as it was in Babai’s times”, Mr. Rao said.
The eatery had become so famous that super stars like ANR, NTR used to visit it.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Sk. Rizwana / Vijayawada – May 02nd, 2016
Telemedicine facility is ready with Apollo Hospitals which is ready to put it in operation once the State Government sanctions it permission to construct a hospital in the Vijayawada-Amaravati area, said chairman of Apollo Hospitals Prathap C. Reddy.
“With Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu all set to provide bandwidth to homes, telemedicine connectivity is possible and people can be in constant touch with medical experts. We are ready and waiting for the nod from [the] Government on the site for hospital,” Dr. Reddy told The Hindu on Friday. The plan is to establish a 300-bed super speciality hospital with an investment of around Rs. 200 crore.
Apollo Hospitals have made the best use of IT and is the first to introduce telemedicine in the world, in 2003. Its hospitals are connected to 200 TV stations in 35 countries.
On the Government’s plan to engage specialists of corporate hospitals to perform surgeries at its hospitals on payment, Dr. Reddy said the specialists and hospitals were ready but the doctors would like the Government hospitals to follow the process and protocol of surgeries and treatment.
He said more cancer hospitals were needed as the disease was spreading. Holistic treatment is also needed since a cancer patient will be having other health problems. While 2000 high end radiation machines are needed in the country, only 200 are available, he noted. Seven out of the 60 hospitals of Apollo are having true beam cancer treatment equipment and nine more would be provided the equipment in two years. The Chennai hospital has Asia’s first Proton equipment, which costs Rs. 350 crore.
He has adopted 115 villages in his native mandal in Chittoor district and is taking care of health of their 69,000 inhabitants in all respects, Dr. Reddy said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / G. Narasimha Rao / Visakhapatnam – April 30th, 2016
Sevakula Vamshi, a student of Sri Chaitanya Junior College, Andhra Pradesh has secured the first rank in the VIT Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE)-2016 which was held from April 6 to 17 in 118 selected cities across India, as well as Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat. The entrance exam was held for admission to the various B.Tech programmes offered by VIT University at its Vellore and Chennai campuses.
Releasing the results here on Thursday, VIT chancellor G Viswanathan said that a record 2,12,238 candidates had registered for the VITEEE-2016. The other rank-holders among the top 10 are 2nd rank: Mohil Patel (St Anns School, Gujarat), 3rd rank: Satyajit Ghosh (DAV Public School, Delhi), 4th rank: Jeevan Chandra N (Sri Chaitanya Narayana Junior College, Karnataka), 5th rank: Shubanker Jauhari (Sri Chaitanya Narayana Junior College, Telangana), 6th rank: Sanit Gupta (Navrachana Higher Secondary School, Sama, Jammu & Kashmir), 7th rank: Kumaresh Ramesh (Pace Junior Science College, Thane), 8th rank: Sai Saketh Aluru (FITJEE Junior College, Telangana), 9th rank: Vishal Jain S D (Jain Modern School, Gujarat) and 10th rank: Charit Verma (Bal Niketan Model Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh).
Viswanathan said that admissions would be only on merit, based on the marks obtained by the candidates in the VITEEE. The results have been released through the following websites: www.vit.ac.in, www.careers360.com, www.entrancecorner.com, www.shiksha.com, www.minglebox.com
Counselling for candidates, who obtained ranks up to 8,000 would be held on May 9 and counselling for ranks 8001 to 12,000 would be held on May 10 while for those who secured ranks from 12,001 to 16,000 will be held on May 11. Counselling for ranks 16,001 to 20,000 will be held on May 12. The counselling would be held simultaneously in the Vellore and Chennai campuses.
Under the G V School Development Programme Central and State board toppers would be given 100 percent fee waiver for all the four years. Candidates with ranks up to 10,000 would be given a tuition fee waiver of Rs 50,000 for all four years, while rank-holders from 10,001 to 20,000 would be given a fee waiver of Rs 25,000 for all the four years.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / April 29th, 2016
It’s just a little more than a year that 14-year-old city boy Tarang Nagar started taking cycling seriously as a sport and participated in road and mountain biking. But he kept winning laurels in almost every attempt in all terrains.
Tarang’s latest achievement is securing the first position in the student category in mountain terrain biking (MTB) event held in Nainital between April 21 and 23. He was also the youngest cyclist who successfully completed the Shimla MTB held in mid-April.
Speaking about the events, the class X student of a city school said, “At Nainital, I completed (85 + 35 kilometres) in nine hours, while for Shimla MTB, I covered 36+38 kilometres in six-and-a-half hours. In MTB Nainital, where I stood first, there were only 12 finishers out of 35 and in MTB Shimla, where there were 115 participants including 16 in student category, I was the youngest rider and finished fifth.”
Apart from mountain biking, Tarang has also been a regular participant in the BRMs held in AP from time to time. BRMs are rides of fixed distances meant to be completed within specified time limits. These are considered a gateway to qualifying in international cycling events or Randonneurs. Between October 2015 and February 2016, Tarang has participated and successfully completed BRMs of 200, 300 and 600 kilometres.
“Though I like both types of cycling (mountain biking and road biking) for the fun and thrill that they offer, mountain biking is even more challenging than road riding. The long distance BRMs test your endurance, while mountain terrain biking is all about power cycling,” quipped Tarang.
Son of navy officer Commander Animesh Nagar, Tarang is also a good swimmer and has qualified to compete in state level competitions, which will be held soon. “I’m also looking forward to MTB Himalayas – a week-long racing event in September – where I would be cycling from Shimla to Leh,” Tarang averred.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / News Home> City> Visakhapatnam / Sulogna Mehta / TNN / April 27th, 2016
