Category Archives: Inspiration /Positive News and Features

Cancer Crusaders to Hold World-class Golf Tournament on February 15,16

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Sports

Cancer Crusaders of CURE Foundation here are organising a world-class golf tournament on February 15 and 16. The event titled ‘Cancer Crusaders Invitation Cup-2014’, the third biennial edition, fund raiser and awareness initiative, will take place at Hyderabad Golf Club. This was announced by Tennis ace Sania Mirza on Sunday, who believed that a gentle stroke to hit a golf ball so that it rolls down into the hole across the green could make some difference to a few cancer patients.

Tennis star Sania Mirza tries her hand at Golf at the launch of the Cancer Crusade Invitation Cup in Hyderabad on Sunday | Neeraj Murali
Tennis star Sania Mirza tries her hand at Golf at the launch of the Cancer Crusade Invitation Cup in Hyderabad on Sunday | Neeraj Murali

Participants have to pay Rs 2,000 which goes towards charity. Around 200 golfers will participate in the tournament. According to Dr Vijay Anand Reddy, founder-CURE foundation and director, Apollo Cancer hospital, the event intends to raise money and spread cancer awareness through excessive participation from ace golfers, outstanding sports persons, celebrities and opinion leaders. ‘’Our objective is to create a consistent annual charity golf tournament, fun and fulfilling day of social service,” he said.

Celebrity Golf Playoffs: The celebrity golf playoff, to be hosted on February 16, is a custom designed format that will last about one hour and is designed to entertain and give celebrities an opportunity to take a shot at the game. Fashion designer Asmita Marwa, Classical dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant, entrepreneur Pinky Reddy, badminton ace Saina Nehwal, Kuchipudi dancer Deepika Reddy, Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj and badminton star Jwala Gutta are expected to take part.

The tournament format named Stableford will have each player given a ball with her name written on it. Each participant has to put the ball to a designated hole on ‘putting greens’. All have to reach close to the hole. The last one is eliminated in each round. There will be different holes for different rounds and the distance to the hole is increased for each round to make it difficult for players.

Asadullah Pasha, captain, Hyderabad Gold Association; Bathanie Mattek, Tennis player; Venu Vinod, MD, Cybercity Builders & Developers pvt ltd; Nadir Chinoy, CEO, Inline 4 Motors Pvt Ltd attended the press meet.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / February 03rd, 2014

On a mission to restore vision

Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Nri's / Pio's, Science & Technology
The visually-impaired children from Chittoor district at Gowthami Eye Institute in Rajahmundry. / Photo: S. Rambabu / The Hindu
The visually-impaired children from Chittoor district at Gowthami Eye Institute in Rajahmundry. / Photo: S. Rambabu / The Hindu

Rajahmundry-based Gowthami Eye Institute with the help of North America Telugu Association has undertaken surgeries to restore eyesight to children identified by the RVM under ‘Çhinnari Choopu’

A ten-year-old boy became totally blind as he was taken to a quack who administered some poisonous herb in the eyes for treating some ailment. But the surprising factor is that the father who took him to the quack was not an illiterate but a Central Government employee who could have taken the child to a doctor instead.

There are hundreds of parents, especially in the rural areas, who are dependent on quacks for treatment ignorant of the resultant consequences. Villagers of Gudipalli, Putturu, Gudikothuru, Santhipuram and Nimmanapalli mandals in Chittoor district continue to believe in this kind of treatment and as a result the eyesight of more than 150 children from these mandals was affected. However a ray of hope came in the form of North America Telugu Association (NATA) which has taken up the mission of restoring their eyesight with the help of the Rajahmundry-based Gowthami Eye Institute.

It was under the Rajiv Vidya Mission (RVM) the district administration had taken up ‘Chinnari Choopu’ programme in three phases. In the first two phases, the RVM took up massive campaign to identify children with eye defects with the help of Inclusive Education Resource Teachers (IERTs).

RVM’s initiative

After a detailed survey seven thousand children below 18-years of age were given spectacles by Raghavachari, Ophthalmologist, Government Hospital, Chittoor. Former project officer of RVM Maheswara Reddy took the onus of implementing the two phases and the programme was later consolidated by the ent project officer Lakshmidevi. However, IER Teachers M. Kumar, Sattarwada in Puttoor mandal and M. Ramaiah of Gudipalli took all the children from their native villages and travelled about 500 kilometers to reach Rajahmundry with the support of their district coordinator Krishna Mohan Reddy and his assistant Lavanya.

The USA- based Dr. VK. Raju, who is the founder chairman of Gowthami Eye Institute, visits India twice in year. He came to know about the RVM’s ‘Chinnari Choopu’ programme and asked his team head Dr. Madhavi and executive director P. Madhu to undertake surgeries for all the 74 children. His initiative is getting able support from NATA.

About 16 children all below 14 years and from below poverty line (BPL) families reached Rajahmundry’s Gowthami Eye Institute on Sunday, where they would be operated upon in next three days. In the first batch 17 children got operated out of 74 children who were referred by Ruia Hospital, Tirupati.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by BVS  Bhaskar / Rajahmundry – January 30th, 2014

National Police Academy gets first woman director

Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Leaders, Resources of Free Materials

New Delhi:

Government has appointed senior police officer Aruna Bahuguna as the new chief of the Hyderabad-based National Police Academy, alma mater for IPS officers in the country.

With this appointment, Bahuguna, a 1979-batch IPS officer, will be the first woman Director of the 65-year-old institution also known as the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) and is tasked with the training of police leaders after they are recruited by the UPSC through the all-India civil services exam.

Bahuguna (56), who belongs to Andhra Pradesh cadre, is at present posted as the Special Director General, CRPF, at its headquarters in the national capital.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently issued orders in this regard.

The officer, who has served in various positions with Andhra Pradesh police, also holds the distinction of being the first woman SDG in CRPF, country’s largest paramilitary force.

She is the second-in-command of the 3 lakh strong force, after the DG.

The post of NPA Director fell vacant after incumbent Subhas Goswami was appointed as the DG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in November last year.

Reputed police officers like Sankar Sen, Trinath Mishra and K Vijay Kumar have earlier headed the NPA.

After taking over, Bahuguna will be the 28th boss of the academy and could continue upto February 2017 when she is due for retirement from service.

The high-level board of the NPA comprises senior civil servants, police officers and eminent educationists as its members and is headed by the Union Home Secretary.

PTI
source: http://www.zeenews.india.com / Z News / Home> State News> Andhra Pradesh / Monday – January 20th, 2014

Police Launch Apps to Help Women

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The State police have introduced a new device called ‘RAKSHITA APPS’ to help women in distress/trouble/danger, according to DGP Prasada Rao.

The police chief who visited Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts on Saturday on an foundation laying/ inauguration spree, told newsmen that any woman in distress/trouble/danger could just dial 119 and seek help from police.

The call would be passed on to the police station/ set-up through the ‘RAKSHITA APPS’ so that the police could rush to the trouble spot and rescue the woman. The DGP said that due to better awareness among the women now about the Nirbhaya Act more cases under the Act were being registered in the State.

Referring to the increasing number of highway accidents in the two districts, the DGP said that that most of these accidents were occurring due to over-speeding and rash driving. He said that to curb the accidents, speed-recording gauges would be installed at the tollgates to check the speed of the vehicles between one tollgate and another.

Answering newsmen’s questions on the Palem bus blaze incident, Prasada Rao said that there was only a single driver in the ill-fated bus on that day. He also ruled out any possibility of sabotage in the blaze.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Mahbubnagar/Kurnool / January 12th, 2014

GHMC to Train 500 Poor Women Cab Drivers

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Inspiration /Positive News and Features

To empower and generate employment for poor and marginalised women, the GHMC has decided to provide training to  500 women as cab drivers soon.

GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar will convene a meeting on December 26 with a motor driving school, Raksha Motor Driving School, which provides training for women in driving taxis.

GHMC officials of Urban Community Development (UCD) wing told Express that a good number of applications have been  received by the GHMC in the last few days.

The proposed training would be provided to the candidates till they become proficient in driving.

Women who applied for cab training will be handpicked from poor and marginalised sections of the society to enable them to earn their livelihood. Most number of applications have been received from the Central Zone followed by East Zone and South Zone. About a dozen women also hold driving licenses. Besides technical training, the module also focuses on personal grooming, honing language skills and developing a feeling of empowerment among the women of marginalised sections.

Even in technical training the women would be acquainted with the mechanism of a car and taught to change flat tyres and fix minor problems, officials said.

GHMC will make efforts for their placements in companies, call centres, other government departments that require women cab drivers. .

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by S. Bachan Jeet Singh – Hyderabad / December 25th, 2013

Maths prodigy aims to develop own technique

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

HaristhaHF24dec2013

Karimnagar: 

She is just 11 years old and studying in Class VII, but she can easily solve maths problems from Intermediate textbooks.

Meet S. Harshita Reddy, who has been excelling in maths since the last six years and winning many awards.

Harshita added another feather to her cap by bagging a silver medal in the National Child Awards for Exceptional Achievements-2013 from the ministry of women and child development in New Delhi on November 14. She was also given a certificate and a cash award of Rs 10,000.

The daughter of an English teacher at a government school, Harshita developed her passion for maths when she was studying in Class I.

“I was surprised after she could remember tables from 1-20 within three days at the age of five. I started teaching her a few topics from algebra, trigonometry and some other tough concepts when I saw that she was blessed with extraordinary skills,” recalls Govardhan Reddy, science teacher at a government school.

When Harshita was nine, she was asked to solve Class X problems and it was a cakewalk for her. “I organised over 50 sessions to demonstrate easy methods to solve maths for students in the school. I would like to develop a method or technique on my own,” said Harshita, adding, “I want to be a maths scientist.”

Harshita claimed she was termed a legend in maths and maro Shakuntala Devi (another Shakuntala Devi) by her critiques and teachers.

Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar and former MLC, Chukka Ramaiah had complimented her for her talent and achievements.

She has also won awards from the World Amazing Records and India Book of Record and was given the Andhra Bala Ratna Award by a voluntary organisation based on Vizag.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by Santosh Padala / DC / December 13th, 2013

JKCCS Honours Balagopal with Robert Thorp Award

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BalagopalHF11dec2013

The J&K Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) has honoured Dr K Balagopal, a human rights activist and lawyer from Andhra Pradesh, with Robert Thorp Award-2013, posthumously, for his contribution in highlighting the human rights issues in Jammu and Kashmir.

The JKCCS every year confers Robert Thorp Award to persons who have shown exemplary courage and contributed to the achievement of civil society and political rights of the people of J&K. The award was received by his colleague, Prof Babaiah on Tuesday.

The award is given in memory of Robert Thorp, a young British Army officer, who arrived in Kashmir in 1865 and fought for the right of self-determination of Kashmir.

He was killed in 1868 by forces of Maharaja Gulab Singh, a feudal ruler of Kashmir, for highlighting the miseries of Kashmiris in international media.

Dr Kandala Balagopal, born on June 10,1952, was a trained Mathematician and taught at Kakatiya University in Andhra Pradesh. An uncompromising human rights activist, Balagopal broke away from the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), with which he was associated from 1980s, on the issue of violence perpetrated by the erstwhile CPI-ML Peoples War.

During his visits to Kashmir, Balagopal worked actively for human rights in Kashmir and wrote numerous articles on Kashmir issue, questioning Indian occupation in Kashmir.

Fifth child of a middle class Telugu Brahmin couple, his education happened in various towns across AP owing to his father’s occupation. After pre-university education at Kavali and BSc in Tirupati, he took an MSc and PhD in Mathematics from the Regional Engineering College in Warangal before proceeding to Delhi for a post-doctoral at the Indian Statistical Institute. He returned to Warangal in 1981, where he started teaching Maths at the Kakatiya University. This was also the time when he decided on social activism and joined the APCLC, which he left after two decades to form Human Rights Forum.

Balagopal, who played a commendable role in exposing the institutional impunity enjoyed by the Indian military force and his unflinching support for the right of self determination of people of Jammu and Kashmir, died of lung aspiration following bleeding of stomach ulcer in Hyderabad on  October 8, 2009.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / November 29th, 2013

A model village in the making

About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Uncategorized
A toilet completed with Village Development Committee funds at Pendalwada in Jainad mandal of Adilabad district. / Photo: By Special Arrangement / The Hindu
A toilet completed with Village Development Committee funds at Pendalwada in Jainad mandal of Adilabad district. / Photo: By Special Arrangement / The Hindu

All the 700 houses in Pendalwada in Jainad mandal of Adilabad district will boast of an individual sanitary latrine soon

The Village Development Committee (VDC) at Pendalwada in Jainad mandal of Adilabad district will have turned the impossible into the possible as all the 700 houses in the habitation will boast of an individual sanitary latrine (ISL) in a few weeks’ time. By pumping in additional funds in the shape of one time grant to every household, it has made a serious and successful effort in getting rid of the menace of open defecation in the village located on the banks of river Penganga.

“All of us were frustrated with the problem which is the root cause of illnesses among other things. About six months back, a collective decision was taken in the village to put an end to open defecation by providing funds to everyone who was willing to go in for an ISL,” says VDC president Kethireddy Madhusudan Reddy, as he shed light on the endeavour.

After due deliberation, it was decided that all the families which were sanctioned an ISL by the government will be given Rs. 7,000, in two instalments of Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 3,000, each from the VDC funds. This will help them work faster on construction of the latrines.

“None of the ISLs sanctioned by the government could achieve proper progress as the beneficiaries did not have sufficient cash in hand to take up construction. With our help, all of them have started construction and some of them have even completed the construction,” Mr. Reddy pointed out.

The help from VDC also required the beneficiaries to contribute labour in construction work and manufacture cement rings used to fortify the walls of the septic tanks. “This saved us a lot of money and resulted in better quality in construction,” points out Annela Gouramma, a beneficiary.

The task of the villagers is further made easy as sand and stone used in construction are locally available. While sand is extracted from Penganga river, stones for basement of the structure is brought from Jainad.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by S. Harpal Singh / Pendalwada (Adilabad Dist) – November 20th, 2013

Aarogyasri a boon for Andhra Pradesh’s poor

Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

“Aarogyasri is God’s gift. I would not have survived but for the cashless treatment provided under it,” said 46-year-old Rupa Pujari, who has been undergoing dialysis under the scheme for the past two years.

She is one of the several thousands of beneficiaries who are getting free haemodialysis treatment under Aarogyasri across 19 dedicated centres in the State from Srikakulam to Warangal. The scheme to help poor patients with kidney failure completed four years of service on November 6.

After both her kidneys failed four years ago, Ms. Rupa had to shell out around Rs.10,000 every month for her treatment for about two years. After learning about the Aarogysri scheme, she began availing treatment and has been undergoing haemodialysis for the past two years. Echoing similar views, 71-year-old Rahmat Ali Khan said it would have been very difficult to meet the expenditure had it not been for the free treatment under Aarogyasri. “In the past, I had to sell something to pay for the treatment. But now we even get medicines, apart from haemodialysis. We are grateful to the government,” he added.

According to Prof. Pradeep Deshpande, emeritus professor of Nephrology, Gandhi Medical College, around 30,000 kidney failure patients have benefited from cashless treatment since the launch of the scheme. It was initiated after a number of poor patients began approaching the then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for financial assistance for dialysis treatment. He said it was started in public-private partnership mode by installing 18 dialysis machines in Gandhi Hospital, 15 in Osmania Hospital here and some in Visakhapatnam.

He said that proposals were pending with the State government to increase the number of haemodialysis centres to 25 across the State, besides starting CAPD (Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis) and paediatric haemodialysis. He said that the Gandhi Hospital has been designated as the nodal centre.

Officials from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had visited Gandhi Hospital and evinced interest in the scheme.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 11th, 2013

First heart transplantation conducted under Jeevandaan in AP

Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

First heart transplantation was successfully carried out under Jeevandaan, the state government sponsored organ donation scheme in Andhra Pradesh.

After the launch of the Jeevandaan programme in 2012, this is the first heart transplantation operation carried out under the state government’s organ donation scheme.

The heart transplant was carried out from a brain dead patient, Sai Teja Nimmagadda, who had met with an accident at Lakadikapul, on November 10.

Sai Teja was rushed to a nearby hospital, but he had lost his consciousness and the CT scan showed severe damage in the brain. He was then rushed to Yashoda Hospital, but was declared brain dead on November 11. The family agreed to donate Sao Teja’s organs to the government’s Jeevandaan scheme and his two kidneys, lungs, liver and heart were retrieved. The heart transplant surgery was carried out in Apollo Hospitals at Jubilee hills.

So far 15 different organ transplantations have been carried out under the Jeevandaan scheme and heart transplantations is done for the first time under the scheme.

In Andhra Pradesh every year at least 10,000 people require kidney transplants in the state. But only less than 500 patients are luckily getting them. When it comes to liver transplants, only 100 such surgeries happen in the city and elsewhere in the state as against 1,600 applications every year.

In view of this, the state government has come out with the Jeevandaan organ donation programme to encourage people to donate their bodies after death.

With this all the organ donations in the state are carried under Jeevandaan. Up on availability, the organs will be allotted to licensed hospitals based on the centralized waiting list maintained by the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

“To further encourage the organ donation more awareness should be created among the people and the state government should bring law to announce brain-dead mandatory in government hospitals, this will enable more organ donations and help us to protect more lives,” says Dr Swarnalatha, in-charge for Jeevandaan programme at NIMS.

source: http://www.pharmabiz.com / PharmaBiz.com / Home> News> Hospitals & Clinics / by PharmaBiz.com Bureau, Hyderabad / November 13th, 2013