Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sindhu takes a giant leap towards her goal

Amazing Feats, Records, All, Sports, Uncategorized

Hyderabad : 

“I want to become World number one,” Sindhu had told IANS a couple of months ago. With her bronze medal in the World Badminton Championships, she has made a giant leap towards that goal.

Despite Saturday’s loss in the semifinal to Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, the 18-year-old Hyderabadi has won many hearts.

Her sterling victories over the defending champion Yihan Wang and Asian Games gold medallist Shixian Wang en route the last four may enable Sindhu, currently ranked 12th, to break into top 10.

Sindhu may be upset over the loss in the semifinal but her parents, both former volleyball players, are happy that she made the country proud by winning a medal.

She became the first Indian to win a women’s singles medal in the Worlds. Prakash Padukone won the men’s singles bronze in 1983 at Copenhagen while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won another bronze in women’s doubles in the 2011 edition.

“The entire country was expecting her to win. She settled for a bronze but a medal is a medal. We are happy that she has won a medal for the country,” Sindhu’s proud father P. V. Ramana told IANS.

“This was her first appearance in the World Championship. She has achieved this at a very young age. We are confident she will do better in future,” said Ramana, an Arjuna awardee.

According to him, there was pressure on Sindhu while her opponent played very well. He, however, is elated that her daughter put up a scintillating show in the tournament.

He believes sincerity, dedication and simplicity are the secrets of Sindhu’s success. This five feet six inch tall sensation has come a long way since she started playing badminton at the age of eight.

Ramana feels having a coach like Pullela Gopichand, the support from Badminton Federation of India, Olympic Gold Quest and Universal Collectabillia, company jointly owned by ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar encouraged her. The job provided by Bharat Petroleum, which has now also promised a promotion, also motivated the girl.

It was last year that Sindhu emerged as a giant-killer like Saina Nehwal when she won the Asian Youth (under-19) Championship. This coupled with the national title she bagged earlier that year gave her confidence to aim bigger.

Sindhu, who completed her class 12 last year, is the only player since the legendary Padukone to hold both junior and senior national titles. Sindhu, who turned 18 on July 5, has fast climbed the ladder of success thanks to her hard work and dedication.

Mohammed Ali was her first coach when she starting playing the game near her house in Secunderabad. She then started training at the Lal Bahadur Stadium and later moved to the Pullela Gopichand Academy.

“Playing badminton was my own interest. My dad didn’t force me to play volleyball or any other game. They left the choice to me and encouraged me a lot,” Sindhu had told IANS.

Ramana and his wife Vijaya made many sacrifices to groom her. As Gopichand Academy is located 27 km away from their house, her father always used to drop and take her back home.

The fact that both her parents are sportspersons greatly helped Sindhu. “We advised and guided her in many respects like how much rest she should take after the practice and how she can remain fit. This helped the child to come up,” said Ramana.

“We accompany her during the practice sessions and watch the movements her coach teaches. We ask her to keep on repeating those movements after she comes back home. If you are not a sportsperson you will not be able to tell all these things to your child. This gave her the motivation,” he added.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport / by IANS – Hyderabad / August 11th, 2013

Iconic IT tower to come up at Duvvada

Uncategorized

It is likely to give a boost to the brand name of Vizag

An iconic IT tower with world-class infrastructure will come up at the Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone, Duvvada. Sanctioned by the Government of India, the Ministry of Commerce will spend Rs. 40 crore on construction of the ground plus five-floor Level 4 building with a built-up area of one lakh square feet.

“It will be an imposing building having a mesmerising effect on all those entering the city by train from the Duvvada railway station. Central Public Works Department will be asked to construct the building in a time-bound manner with aesthetic landscaping and elevation,” VSEZ Development Commissioner S. Kishore told The Hindu.

The highlight of the super-structure will be seismic activity proof and guaranteed supply of power 24×7. “We want it for use as a disaster recovery point/data recovery centre for big players in the event of an exigency at their campuses located at various places in the country or anywhere in the world,” says Mr. Kishore.

Two to three floors will be exclusively available for log on and log out purpose so as to use the facility as a bank locker system. There will be an advanced security system so that hackers and others cannot gain access to the data stored in the centre. Cubicle mode office space will be available, from where five to 10 persons can work anytime. Data can be recovered online or offline.

Investment centre

The facility is expected to give a big boost to the brand name of Vizag as a destination for investment.

Visakhapatnam is presently having an annual exports turnover of Rs.1300 crore from the IT business, mostly through big players like HSBC, Tech Mahindra, IBM and Wipro. The industry hopes that with another IT tower getting ready at Rushikonda, being built by APIIC, the turnover from the city can be raised to Rs.5,000 crore in next three years or so.

The proposals to set up IT Investment Centre and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing Cluster in the city are at nascent stage. Once they become a reality, the city will witness a quantum jump in volumes of business in the field of IT and IT-enable services.

“Visakhapatnam as an ideal IT hub is under-explored. The government should give us permission to allot the unused space at our units at Rushikonda IT SEZ to software firms from other places,” says Rushikonda IT Park Association president P. Vishnu Kumar Raju.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Santosh Patnaik / Visakhapatnam – August 02nd, 2013

Vijayawada: Online seva services will be introduced at Kanakadurga temple

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Uncategorized

DurgaHF27jul2013

Vijayawada:

Online seva services will be introduced at Kanakadurga temple from Friday. Executive officer K. Prabhakara Srinivas said that the online seva services would be inaugurated for the convenience of devotees.

He said devotees could book the seva tickets for pujas and send donations online. He said the online services would be extended to other services including reservation of choultries later.

The executive officer said Sakambari celebrations would be organised at Kanakadurga temple from July 20 to 22. He said the presiding deity would be decorated with vegetables on the three days and the temple would remain open from 4 am to 10 pm for the convenience of devotees.

The executive officer said over two lakh devotees would visit the temple during Sakambari celebrations. He said necessary arrangements have been made to meet the rush of devotees.

Temple Stanacharya Vishnubotla Sivaprasad said the presiding deity Goddess Kanakadurga incarnated in the form of Sakambari earlier as per Devi Bhagavatam, Markandeya Puranam and Durga Saptasati Puranam.

He said that Sakambari celebrations would lead to good rains and crops during Ashadam month. He said on July 20 Vigneswara puja would be performed at 8 am.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / Vijayawada – July 19th, 2013

Indian Railway Gets Woman Guard For Goods Train

Business & Economy, Records, All, Uncategorized

Vijayawada :  (Bernama)

For the first time in the history of Indian Railway, a woman has been appointed as a guard for goods train, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Forty Three-year old D Mohini Kumari was appointed as the woman guard on freight trains by the South Central Railway (SCR) on the other day.

Kumari, a graduate who was appointed a clerk in SCR on compassionate ground in 2006 after the death of her husband, took charge of her new assignment here Friday.

According to railway sources, she qualified for the post of guard in a departmental examination and later underwent training at Secunderabad.

Talking to PTI, Mohini said she is prepared to face any kind of challenge in her new job, where women are rarely appointed.

She advised women to break new grounds and be ready to face challenges in life.

— BERNAMA

source: http://www.bernama.com.my / National News Agency of Malaysia / Home> World> News / by Press Trust of India / Vijayawada – July 20th, 2013

Photonics chapter in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad : 

The Hyderabad Chapter of Photonics Society of the IEEE has been launched.

The Director, Research Centre Imarat, G. Sateesh Reddy, who is also the founder Vice-President of Sensors Research Society, India formally inaugurated it at a function at the IIIT here.

In his inaugural address at a one-day workshop, Satheesh Reddy said, “Integrated photonics and nano-photonics are predicted to be an enabling technology for many sectors like communications, security, life sciences, health.”

The Registrar, IIIT and Atul Negi, Chairman IEEE (Hyderabad), were present. Chris Emslie, CEO, Fiber Core Ltd, UK, delivered the keynote address at the workshop on photonics and lasers, organised on the occasion.

The workshop on Tuesday saw participants from defence laboratories, major Industries and academia both from India and abroad.

The potential economic impact of Photonics technologies in the future is considerable, and a number of industrial organisations have predicted growth rates of up to 25 per cent with total markets of hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Opto Electronic Industry Development Association estimates that photonics industry is worth $40 billion.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> Science / by The Hindu Bureau  – somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in /  Hyderabad – June 19th, 2013

Vandemataram foundation: Moulding citizens of tomorrow

Uncategorized

VandemataramHF27jun2013

The Vandemataram foundation has been on a drive to fight poverty, illiteracy and discrimination through their social outreach initiatives in hundreds of schools in Warangal and Mahbubnagar.

“Vandemataram is not an NGO, it’s a movement, a revolution,” says T Ravinder, introducing the foundation which is slowly but steadily transforming public education in villages and mandals across AP.

The foundation commenced operations in 2005, on the eve of the centenary celebrations of the national song, Vande Mataram.

Inspired by the teachings and philosophies of Vivekananda and APJ Abdul Kalam, the twelve-man team and 11,000 ground-level volunteers, have been working towa­rds igniting young minds so they can lay the foundation for a better tomorrow.

“If we are able to successfully mould a classroom in a school today, we can mould the shape of the world,” believes journalist-tu­rned-activist Ravinder, who’s the founder-trustee of the community development organisation.

Keeping true to their motto, the foundation has been on a drive to fight poverty, illiteracy and discrimination through their unique social outreach initiatives in hundreds of schools in Warangal and Mahbubnagar. The results are already showing — drop rates have fallen sharply, teacher absenteeism has slump­ed and student performance has improved drastically, in more than 120 schools in 10 mandals.

Recognising the problem of high-dropout rates among girls after high school, the foundation has adopted 600 girl children from these mandals, bearing all costs (including their bus pass, admission, tuition fees, study material) for their higher education. In return, these girls have an undertaking to return to their villages in the evening and conduct mentoring classes.

Another successful initiative of the organisation is their ‘Little Leaders’ programme aimed to help orphans and children of single-parents who constitute a majority of the student body in government schools. In the absence of established libraries, these kids serve as mobile libraries by carrying to school story books, moral studies tomes or any good literature provided by the foundation and make them available to the rest of their class. In the evening, they pack them up and bring them back. In turn, these children are rewarded by having a nominal amount of money added to their account for their future education. “Every person we help will help two in return. It will be a chain reaction so that everyone is affected,” the members say.

Despite a monthly expenditure of `4-5 lakh, the foundation says that they will not accept a rupee of government funding. The organisation was so far being funded by socially conscious businessmen from the City who shared its vision. “About 50-60 of us came together and wanted to help. So we started setting aside `1-2 lakh every year and giving it to support the foundation,” says Madhav Reddy, now the State secretary for Vandemataram. Recently, they have companies coming forward to sponsor programmes.

But they’re still only getting warmed up. Ahead they have clear development plan and specified goals. “We want to make Dr Kalam’s 2020 vision come true. Our aim is to create at least 1,00,000 responsible citizens in the country who will work towards change. And we intend to touch 1,000 government schools across the State. If we can achieve that, we can achieve full social justice,” explains Ravinder.

source: http://www.postnoon.com / Post Noon / Home> City / by Padmini Copparaju / June 14th, 2013

Ancient coins found in Andhra town temple

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Uncategorized

Eluru :

Ancient coins have been discovered from underneath the Dwajasthambam of Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy temple at Palacole town in West Godavari district. Temple authorities, who were restoring the Dwajasthambam that fell down last year, were astonished to find a large cache of gold, silver and copper coins inside the foundation. They had dug up the foundation of Dwajasthambam to install a new one.

The temple authorities have informed officials of the state archaeology department. The period of the coins and their historical and archaeological value is yet to be ascertained. They also found a Kurma Yantra from the site.

Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy temple is one of the Pancharama kshetras in Andhra Pradesh. Great religious and historical significance is attached to the temple.

Thousands of devotees from all over the state visit the temple and offer prayers to the presiding deity.

Religious legends trace the history of the temple to the period of Ramayana.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / June 03rd, 2013

This Andhra village has lessons to teach

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Gangadevipalli  (Andhra Pradesh):

If India lives in its villages, then the model it perhaps must follow is Gangadevipalli, a hamlet in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district where every house has the bare necessities of life, and more.

From regular power and water supply to a scientific water filtration plant, a community-owned cable TV service and concrete, well-lit roads, Gangadevipalli has been steadily gaining in prosperity thanks to a disciplined and determined community that has also managed to work in harmony towards goals set collectively.

The village, about 200 km north of state capital Hyderabad, has won several awards, including the “Nirmal Gram Puraskar”, for health and hygiene.

Now, the village headman has been invited to Nepal to recount Gangadevipalli’s success story.

“Our village has been hogging the limelight for all the right reasons. I have now been invited to Nepal to explain how we work so cohesively,” headman K. Rajamouli told IANS.

With a population of a little over 1,300, the village has 100 percent adult literacy. The school dropout rate has been zero since 2000.

“The unity of the village and the realisation of the need for community development are at the root of the achievements of Gangadevipalli,” says S.S. Reddy of Bala Vikasa Social Service Society, an NGO that has been working closely with villagers.

The village has over two dozen committees, which manage areas like health and hygiene, the provision of drinking water, cable television and literacy.

Another remarkable achievement for the village is that its married population under the age of 35 does not have more than two children.

The village now boasts 100 percent survival of new-born babies, their inoculation and immunisation, as well as regular vaccination of children below five. The supply of nutritious food to children and pregnant and lactating women, along with regular health check-ups, is also among the unique achievements of the village.

The gender ratio of women and men is almost the same. Each woman is also a member of a self-help group, making a significant contribution to the family income.

Apart from having savings of at least Rs.10,000 each, every family has a life insurance policy, prompting authorities to give the village the “Beema Gram” award.

The farmers’ development panel looks into improvements in agriculture; experts explore ways of increasing productivity as well as reducing farming costs.

But sometimes, even discipline could result in loss: “While farmers all over the state rejoiced after the government announced waiver of agricultural loans for small and marginal farmers, peasants here suffered a loss of over Rs.40 lakh because we had repaid our loans on time,” headman Rajamouli said.

There is also a committee to come to the help of villagers engaged in family disputes. A civil supplies body ensures that no corruption takes place in the supply of essential commodities through ration shops.

The village also enforces a complete ban on the sale of alcohol.

“Drinking may lead to communal disharmony as well as domestic abuse. Hence the sale of liquor has been banned for more than a decade now,” said Kusam Ramaiah, head of the prohibition committee.

The journey to progress has not been smooth sailing, though.

“The essence of our prosperity and development is our unity, and it took years to forge that. There were so many divisions on the basis of caste, religion, political belief, etc, but we did not lose heart,” says S. Kaadambani, the member of a self-help group.

As the village became famous, the residents launched a fresh scheme to garner revenue – visitors are charged Rs.1,600 for a conducted tour with proper guides to explain the progress that the village has witnessed. Government functionaries, members of other gram panchayats, media people and NGO activists from within the country and abroad are among those who have dropped by.

There are at least two visits to this model village each week.

(Anurag Dey can be contacted at anurag.d@ians.in)

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Anurag Dey / IANS – Gangadevipalli (AP) / March 30th, 2013

Ageing Germany woos Indian students, workers

Education, Uncategorized, World Opinion

Hyderabad (IANS):

With its labour force likely to decline by 6.5 million people by 2025 because of its ageing population, Germany is looking to attract young students and skilled workforce from India.

German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner Friday said India and Germany can complement each other by exploiting their demographic advantages.

“In 2025, we will have minus 6.3 million workforce, not just engineers and doctors but also skilled workers because we are older society than, for example, India,” he said while launching ‘Excellence on Tour 2013’, a road-show by the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH), New Delhi to showcase education opportunities for Indian students in Germany.

“India is a young society with millions and millions of students and young people who need to be trained and educated and who need jobs. The average age of Indian population is 25 years while in Germany, the average age is 35 years,” he said.

The ambassador pointed out that Germany with top universities and institutions for vocational training is well equipped to meet the requirements of Indian students. “India has what Germany needs and Germany has what India needs,” he said.

Addressing a huge gathering of students at Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Steiner said when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently visited Germany, there was an understanding between the two countries that they should exploit the demographic advantages they have.

The ambassador disagreed that it is brain drain. “This is not brain drain. It is about brain circulation. It is about helping to build the brain,” he said.

To a question by a student whether in the event of a recession, Germany would look after the interests of its own people, the ambassador said the demand was huge in German economy.

“The incline in growth we have is on a very high level. Even if there is relative recession, even if we have a growth rate of two percent less, this would not change the fundamental picture.”

Explaining how Germany transformed its economy through structural reforms, he said it had the strength to shoulder the crisis in Europe and show solidarity with other countries.

He was confident that Europe would get out of the crisis in a year or two and emerge as a strong partner of India. He also predicted that India would end as one of the top economies of the world.

Steiner said what Europe was witnessing was not a Euro crisis but a debt crisis. He said the Euro zone countries took the revolutionary step of introducing common currency 12 years ago but they committed a mistake by not harmonizing their fiscal and economic policies.

“If you have a common currency you must have communal fiscal and economic policy. As we didn’t do that we had to pay the price and we landed up in the debt crisis.”

The eight-day road show is the first since the launch of DWIH in Delhi late last year.

DWIH is a one-stop shop for Indians who want to know about possibilities in education, science and research in Germany. It represents all major German organizations in areas of education, science, technology and innovation.

source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Daiji World / Home> World / by IANS / Hyderabad, April 26th, 2013

Mobile app to combat film piracy launched

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Uncategorized

A mobile phone application that helps combat film piracy designed by Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce with the support of the US Consulate General, was launched by US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell here today.

The application called ‘Indian Movie Cop'(IMC), available as a free download on Mac’s App Store, provides movie fans with a one-stop shop of movie trailers, plot synopses, theatres and show times and educates them about piracy and enables them to report piracy in real time in one of eight Indian languages.

It provides tools to identify, report and prevent piracy, and those users alerting about the piracy will be rewarded, an official said.

As per a Northbridge Capital Asia report, the Indian film industry estimated to be worth Rs 14,400 crore produces around 1,050 films every year, but loses 14 per cent of its revenue to video piracy, Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy said.

“About 90 per cent of pirated DVDs of films available in Indian market are a result of illegal camcorder recording in theatres,” the DGP said.

Veteran film maker Daggubati Rama Naidu said, “As a film industry, we have been waging a war against piracy for many years. Indian Movie Cop is a significant step to producing long-term results and bringing all stakeholders together.”

Uday Singh, managing Director of Motion Picture Association (India) said that the new mobile application will help law enforcement officials and movie going audiences to understand the negative impact of content theft and help build a platform for respecting content creators and owners.

CID Additional Director General of Police T Krishna Prasad said information on piracy given by the movie goers through the IMC to the AP Film Chamber of Commerce will be processed before it is taken up as an actionable intelligence.

“That information has to be processed before we take an actionable intelligence. In order to ensure convictions (of the accused), we will be looking for admissible evidence in the form of IP addresses and transfer of technology,” he explained.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> Entertainment> News / Press Trust of India / Hyderabad, April 07th, 2013