Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India Vasudev Jamnabihar Masurekar on Saturday exhorted the members of Freemasons Lodge to add more love and affection in whatever they gave to the society.What matters is not how much we give but how much care we put while giving it to others, he said while speaking at the foundation stone laying function of the Masonic temple at Ibrahimpatnam.
Mr. Masurekar also inaugurated a Masonic library along with Mr. Arvind Prasad Chitra, Regional Grand Master of the Southern India. He released the members’ directory for the benefit of the lodge members. He inspected the drinking water plant built by Lodge Burroughs Strange No. 87 for the neighbourhood locality and commended the work done by lodge members who generated Rs. 60 lakhs for the Huhhud cyclone victims . Grand Master B. Amarnaath, P.V. Krishnaiah, G. Harisiva Kumar and others took part in the both the functions.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – April 05th, 2015
A view of the Amaravathi Road from Seethanagaram in Guntur district | Express Photo
Hyderabad :
The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to name its capital city as Amaravathi has turned the spotlight on the ancient town, bringing in a wave of nostalgia and hope post-bifurcation of the undivided state last year.
The move will also rekindle unity among Andhras, feel observers.
Amaravathi, which means the town that lives forever, was the seat of power of Satavahana rulers and the name has been chosen in view of its historical, spiritual and mythological significance, says Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
A meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by him last week, passed a resolution in this regard.
Highlighting the glorious past of Amaravathi, Advisor (Communications) to Andhra Pradesh government Parakala Prabhakar said the government would like to build a futuristic city.
“With the capital being named Amaravathi, we look back at our glorious past and move ahead. Post-bifurcation, this holds out hope for the future and promotion of unity among Andhras,” he told PTI.
Tracing the history of Amaravathi, M Somasekhara Rao, a retired history lecturer at Hindu College in Guntur, said, “It is highly appropriate to name the new capital as Amaravathi in view of its significance. It is a good decision. It will rekindle the unity of Andhras,” he said, adding that the name of the city may strike a chord in the South East Asian countries where Buddhism is prevalent.
The state government has “pooled” about 33,000 acres of land from farmers and other land owners in the Vijayawada- Guntur region for raising the modern city of international standards, albeit a “people’s capital” that is convenient for poor as well.
Amaravathi had seen three religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – flourishing in the region, Rao, a former General Secretary of Andhra Pradesh History Congress, said.
The name Amaravathi may have come from ‘Aramavati’ (house for ‘aramas’ or monasteries), he said.
Though the naming of the city as Amaravathi has largely been welcomed, the gigantic task of developing the capital stares at the TDP government led by Naidu as the state is now faced with a fiscal deficit of Rs 17,500 crore after losing the crown jewel of Hyderabad to Telangana in bifurcation.
Naidu, who was once the poster boy of IT and reforms in the country, has big dreams for developing the new capital as a world-class city.
The Singapore government is preparing the master plan for the capital for free.
The plan has three components – overall capital region, capital city and seed capital, Naidu had said.
The Singapore government submitted a report on capital region during Naidu’s visit to the city state on March 31, the capital city master plan details would be submitted by May 15 and that on seed capital would be given by June.
The government’s decision to name the capital as Amaravathi has largely been welcomed by all, though Opposition parties hold different views on the issue.
Main opposition YSR Congress had organised protests against allegedly forcible acquisition of land, though it is not opposed to its location.
YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy had earlier visited the villages in the proposed capital region and voiced opposition of farmers to part with their lands.
A group of retired officials, who had visited the region, expressed concern over multi-cropped land being taken for building the capital.
According to LSN Prasad, Reader in Economics in the Hindu College in Guntur, the Amaravathi region has been fertile and witnessed robust agriculture activity with the availability of river water.
Observing that multiple crops, including rice and a wide variety of horticulture crops like carrot, are grown in the region, he, however, felt that future generations may lose out on the crops.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by PTI / April 05th, 2015
A tribal museum and research centre is all set to come up on the city’s outskirts with the help of central aid very soon. The proposed museum and research center is proposed to be set up over five acres near Yendada at a cost of Rs 10 crore, of which Rs 1 crore has already been released by the central government.
According to sources, the tribal museum will showcase beliefs, customs, culture and lifestyle of various tribes in all the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh, which comprise nearly 4% of the state’s population. The museum will display typical ornaments, dress, hunting artifacts, musical instruments, utensils and other apparatus used by tribals. The tribal research center will study the inscriptions of various tribes, their culture and way of life.
Currently, Hyderabad houses a tribal museum and research centre and Araku has a tribal museum showcasing their heritage and culture.
“This is a central government funded project. We will monitor the construction of the project and everything will be taken care by the tribal welfare department. Tribal welfare department higher ups are scouting for suitable land for the project,” ITDA project officer Hari Narayan said. AP tribal welfare director M Padma, who recently visited the Port City, visited two sites at Yendada and PM Palem.
According to sources in the revenue department, initially the department asked for two acres and later requested the district administration for five acres but now the director of the tribal welfare department has sent a letter to the district collector seeking 10 acres land. “Providing 10 acres of land in the city is not possible for the district administration because it does not have major chunks of land in the city,” a source pointed out.
“The central government funded project will be taken care of by the state government. We have already shown the department officials land at two places. We are ready to provide them five acres near the NIO site, where we have kept aside a piece of land for the science center,” district collector N Yuvaraj told TOI.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / by Siva G, TNN / April 04th, 2015
Indian Idol 2010 winner Sreerama Chandra says he didn’t face any problems in singing Hindi songs, despite being from south
Singing is his passion while acting is his hobby. Winner of Indian Idol 2010, Sreerama Chandra Mynampati took the nation by storm by his consistent performance in the reality show.
“I have done a couple of movies too,” he reminds, quickly adding that there is a difference between singing and acting.
“Acting involves a lot of hard work while singing comes to me naturally,” he tells The Hindu on the sidelines of a musical show held in the city recently.
After doing two films, Sri Jagadguru Adishankara and Prema Geema Janta Nai , Mr. Sreerama Chandra has come back to what is closest to his heart — singing.
“Currently, I am based in Mumbai and working with almost all Bollywood music directors. In terms of career, the Mumbai platform is bigger and I want to focus on this city for now. I also want to work with A.R. Rahman and other leading composers. Being a Telugu boy, I love to sing Telugu songs,” he says.
A native of Prakasam district, Mr. Sreerama Chandra developed a passion for singing and started crooning from his school days.
He studied Intermediate in a corporate college in Vijayawada where he recently performed at a musical show along with singer Nagur Babu (Mano) and other singers.
In Telugu film industry, his favourite music directors are Devisri Prasad and Taman while M.M. Keeravani is an all-time favourite with whom he started his career.
When reminded of a popular perception that upcoming singers from south can’t sing Hindi songs perfectly, he begs to differ: “It’s wrong. I did not face any such problem.”
About the upcoming singers in the music industry, he says the talented ones should have clarity on what they want to do in life. Before taking the plunge, they must learn the basics and focus on practising. “There will be more scope if they come up with their own music albums,” he adds.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by M. Srinivas / Vijayawada – April 05th, 2015
The Coastal Museum that is coming up on the premises of the 127-year-old Victoria Museum on M.G. Road will be named after late film maker Bapu. During his visit to the city a few months ago, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had mooted the proposal to name the museum after Bapu who was also a music director, illustrator and cartoonist.
After the Chief Minister’s proposal, the Department of Archaeology and Museums prepared a report and sent it to the government.
Instead of naming the museum after the legendary director, the department, in another report sent to the government, said that a new museum coming up at Eluru in West Godavari district could be named after Bapu, as it was his native place.
“We are waiting for approval from the Chief Minister’s office on the issue,” the official said.
The construction of the museum is taken up at a cost of more than Rs. 4.8 crore.
The new three-storeyed structure, once completed, will be the biggest museum in the State. Rare coins, instruments and other artefacts of Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods will be showcased in the museum.
Galleries for coins
Interestingly, the new building will be three times bigger than the Victoria Museum, and it will house separate galleries to display coins used by various dynasties, besides paintings and stone-carvings.
Bronze sculptures, clothes used by the Mughal emperors, stones and label inscriptions, copper plates and ancient scripts will also be displayed. Weapons used during Vijayanagara and Nizam eras will be the other attractions, officials said.
They added that the construction of the museum was hit by shortage of sand, but works were on at a brisk pace. “We are hopeful of completing the works within a few months,” they said.
Sources said the government had planned to name the museum after Bapu who won international acclaim for his cartoons on Telugu women (Bapu Bommalu).
Through his unique style, he blended Telugu culture with modern techniques.
He also had an enormous impact on contemporary Telugu arts and movies, they added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by M. Srinivas / Vijayawada – March 27th, 2015
Local resident Mr. Abhiram clinched the singles title in the Pin Strikerz Bowling Championship held here on March 8 and 9. Mr. Vivek from Hyderabad and Mr. Pasha from Vijayawada bagged the second and third places respectively.
In the doubles category, the team of Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Vamsi from Vijayawada won the championship, while another local team of Mr. Pasha and Mr. Dilip Jain from the city bagged the second place.
In all, 32 participants from different parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States participated in the two-day championship.
Andhra Pradesh Ten Pin Bowling Association general secretary Smitha Chowdhary was chief guest for the prize distribution ceremony. P.S. Charan, general manager Planet Fun and Praveen Tungala, president Pin Strikerz Group, distributed the trophies, said a press release.
In the doubles category, the team of Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Vamsi from Vijayawada won the championship
source:http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – March 10th, 2015
She is no different from the children of her age. Like others, she loves cartoons and chocolates. But the special talent of nine-year-old Ch Dolly Shivani in archery makes her different from other children.
Spending more than three hours a day on practice at Cherukuri Volga Archery Academy from age 2, under the guidance of her coach L Chandra Sekhar, Shivani is all set to enter the India Book of Records in the sub-junior category.
Addressing newsmen here Wednesday, Ch Satyanarayana, head of the academy and father of Shivani, said for the first time in the history of archery, a nine-year-old kid was holding the recurve bow which was specially made in Poland by Ukraine expert Alexander and shoot arrows to the board at a distance of 7 m.
“Shivani is going to perform before the public at VMC Volga Archery field on March 24 to set a record by shooting with recurve bows at this tender age for certification by the India Book of Records,” he said. Shivani is the third daughter of Ch Satyanarayana and Krishna kumari, who had lost their two daughters and international archers Volga and Lenin in an accident, a few years ago. On the occasion, Satyanarayana requested the government to support talented players like in other countries.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / March 12th, 2015
Shiva Sri from Appughar in the city bagged the first prize in the concept film contest-2014 conducted by Eastern Power Distribution Company of AP Limited (EPDCL) to promote awareness on electrical safety and energy conservation. The second prize went to D Balaiah from Kurnool and Ravi Arji from Khairatabad in Hyderabad received the third prize, according to chairman and managing director EPDCL R Mutyala Raju.
Announcing the prizes here on Friday, the CMD said the first prize winner would be presented Rs 50,000 cash, the second prize winner Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 for the third spot. He said Rs 10,000 each would be given to the six consolation prize winners — B Hari Venkata Ramana from Akkayyapalem, Srikanth Sathivada of Dabagardens, Jeelakarpa Yaswan from New Gajuwaka, Satyada Narsinga Rao of Ambedkar Colony and M Satyanarayana of Kothapalem in Vizag and V Bhargavi from Yusufguda in Hyderabad.
Ninety-three people from AP and Telangana participated in the contest, which was judged by film director MV Raghu, EPDCL retired chief engineer M Krishna Murthy and A Babji, assistant director, AP information department.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / February 14th, 2015
YES Bank Group President R. Ravichander and Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao after inauguration of the bank’s flagship branch in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. —Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam
India’s fifth largest private sector bank, Yes Bank, opened its flagship branch – the first in Andhra Pradesh — here on Thursday.
Inaugurating the branch at Dwarakanagar here, Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao said the high-tech branch would shift the focus from plain vanilla transactions to high-end value added services.
The bank would open two more branches at Rajahmundry and Nellore. The city which at present had two branches would have four or five more. The bank had set a target to have 25 branches in Andhra Pradesh in next three years, according to its Group President R. Ravichander.
The flagship branch showcased the cutting edge technologies in tune with the bank’s aim of transforming branches from being mere transaction platforms into service-centric advisory centres, he said.
The state-of-the-art branch was the seventh operational branch of the bank in Andhra Pradesh. Some of the innovative services being offered free of cost were secure and instant money transfer, including bill payments with two-factor authentication and unique online aggregation service under proprietary branch ‘Money Monitor’ on the net banking platform, said Mr. Ravichander.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – February 27th, 2015
A mega health camp, the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh, is being conducted in the Krishna District Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition Society premises beside The Hindu office in Autonagar exclusively for thalassaemia patients from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on February 28.
Thalassaemia patients, most of them children, are born with a defect in their blood. Their body cannot make haemoglobin, a compound that helps in the transport of oxygen. Children with thalassaemia have to continuously get haemoglobin from somewhere else.
Blood transfusion is the only way they can get taemoglobin so they need to get blood transfusion frequently. Babies that are one year old or less may need blood transfusions once in a month, but as they grow they will need it once in two weeks. But the frequent transfusions cause several complications.
Iron overload is one of the treacherous complications. Too much iron in the body results in damage to the heart, liver and endocrine system, which includes glands that produce hormones that regulate most processes in the body.
Another dangerous complication of frequent transfusions was enlarged spleen. The spleen helps the body fight infection and filtered out unwanted materials such as old or damaged blood cells. Thalassaemia is often accompanied by the destruction of a large number of red blood cells, making the spleen work harder than normal, causing the spleen to enlarge making the anaemia worse. The only solution to the problem was the removal of the spleen.
For more details, dial 939296779 or 9393096779.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – February 26th, 2015
