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 the 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 stealing the limelight for all the right reasons. I have now been invited to Nepal to explain how we work so cohesively,” headman K Rajamouli said.
With a population of a little over 1,300, the village has 100 per cent 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 per cent 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 Rs10,000 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.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> National / by Agencies / Gangadevipalli (Andhra Pradesh) / March 31st, 2013

Winners all:  Students of OU College of Engineering, who developedall-terrain four-wheel vehicle ‘Dirt Rider’.   –Photo: By arrangement / The Hindu

An all-terrain four-wheel vehicle “Dirt Rider”, which was designed, fabricated and tested by the Students of Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College of Engineering, Osmania University won the “Technology Innovation Award” at “SAE BAJA-2013”, an annual event conducted by Society for Automotive Engineers, India (SAE) at NATRIP Track, Pithampur near Indore.

The award was given for their innovation of four-wheel steering mechanism incorporated in the vehicle and it carried prize money of Rs.1 lakh. Apart from the award, five students from OUCE were also offered Jobs by top Automotive Companies with average pay package of over Rs.5 lakh per annum, said the faculty advisor and professor of Mechanical Engineering, V. Uma Maheshwar, who guided them in the project.

He said there was heavy competition for the award with 350 teams coming from across India including IITs and NITs competing.

The student group was led by Captain Srinath Sharma and Vice Captain Raja Rao. The driver of the Vehicle was Venkatesh.

The team had five girls Priyanka, Nishita, Pravallika, Sai Laxmi and Divya Shivani who contributed actively in the development of the Vehicle. A. Ganesh, J. Srujan Reddy, Sai Srinath, Sendilkar and Avinash formed the Core Committee of SAE BAJA Club. Nikhil and Srikanth Prasad were the welding experts.

The team worked for ten months to develop the vehicle.

R.r.R

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Features> Education Plus / by R.R.R / February 25th, 2013

Ristretto. Well, this can well be the final destination for the elite of the twin cities as it happens to be the name of the coffee shop that the Mirzas – Imran Mirza (Sania Mirza’s father) and his daughter Anam Mirza – are planning to launch on a grand scale in the posh Jubilee Hills locality very soon.

And to the delight of the family members, the first celebrity who stepped into the restaurant, which is fast-nearing completion, on Tuesday evening was none other than Sania’s doubles partner on the WTA Tour Bethanie Mattek-Sands and her husband. Giving her company was a visibly relaxed Sania Mirza, taking a break from competitive tennis because of a niggle.v

“Well, it is Anam who has shown a lot of interest in this project, which is incidentally run by four partners. Since Sania is still very active in the tennis circuit, she will be making only frequent visits,” reveals Imran Mirza in a chat with The Hindu.

Clearly, the 27-year-old Bethanie was in for a pleasant surprise by the ambience that is coming up in the restaurant even as it is obvious that the Mirzas and their partners are keen to showcase the brand value of India’s finest ever women’s tennis player.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / February 06th, 2013

India and European Union have signed a Rs 80-crore (about €12 million ) agreement to recycle industrial and domestic waste water to provide water to irrigation purposes. Indian corporates such as SABMiller and Jain Irrigation too are partners in the four-year research oriented project.

Besides, the two sides would work on other products that come out of waste water and also on the efficient use of water under the Water4Crops-India project.

From India, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) will lead the consortium with 34 member companies, universities and research organisations. The Union Department of Bio Technology (DBT) and the EU team would put in €6 million each for the project, Shailja Vaidya Gupta, Director of International Cooperation (DBT, Govt of India), said.

The Indian consortium includes The Energy Research Institute (TERI), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Euro India Research Centre and M S Swaminathan Research Foundation.

“The consortium will be working on three types of industrial waste water mainly from the Charminar Breweries of SABMiller in Andhra Pradesh; the onion and fruit processing plant at Jain Irrigation , Jalgaon in Maharashtra; and the sugar factory from Ugar Sugar in Karnataka,” Suhas P. Wani of Icrisat, who is leading the Indian consortium, told reporters here on Tuesday.

kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by The Hindu’s Bureau / Patancheru (Medak) / January 29th, 2013

More women are coming forward to learn self-defence techniques such as Karate after growing instances of sex offences against them. / The Hindu Photo Library

The rooms of A.P. State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) Zonal Training College at Gannavaram will echo with ‘kiai’, the short yell that is generated while applying karate techniques, from Tuesday.

The first batch of a 60-member women employees’ team from the RTC, Vijayawada Zone, will descend on the venue to learn the rudiments of the martial art Karate.

In the wake of the recent Delhi gang-rape incident, concern over women safety has increased manifold in all sectors.

The APSRTC, on its part, has decided to train its women employees, especially the women conductors, in self-defending mechanisms like karate.

“There are nearly 1,400 women employees in the Vijayawada Zone. Since all of them cannot be trained at one go, we have decided to categorise them in different batches,” RTC Vijayawada Zone Executive Director M.S. Prakasa Rao told The Hindu on Monday.

To begin with, the officials have picked up a few active employees who could learn the basics such as how to pack an impressive punch, swing and strike before descending on the opponent with a flying kick.

“We do not have a woman trainer and so we have engaged a male trainer who will impart a week-long coaching in the basics. It’s a new concept and we are weary of the possible hesitation the trainees might feel initially. But once they understand the ultimate purpose of it and what significance it holds for them, they are sure to give their best shot,” said Mr. Rao.

As a pre-cursor, the authorities recently conducted a shuttle tournament followed by athletics exclusively for women employees. “This might perhaps help them to open up to the idea of karate as well,” he said.

Mr. Rao feels it is imperative for women conductors to be equipped with such self-defending techniques.

“Frequently it happens that only male passengers travel by late night buses, especially in rural pockets. Buses sometimes traverse through wilderness or may even break down at deserted areas.

The woman conductor in the bus should be confident enough to face such situations,” said Mr. Rao.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities / by P. Sujatha Varma / Viyayawada, January 29th, 2013