Monthly Archives: December 2013

Women’s NGOs in Vijayawada set out to achieve quota Bill

December 18, 2013Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Uncategorizedadmin

Former MP Chennupati Vidya addressing the all-women's meeting organised to chalk out an action plan for achievement of 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies, in Vijayawada on Thursday. Former Mayors Mallika Begum and Tadi Sakuntala are also seen./ The Hindu — Former MP Chennupati Vidya addressing the all-women’s meeting organised to chalk out an action plan for achievement of 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies, in Vijayawada on Thursday. Former Mayors Mallika Begum and Tadi Sakuntala are also seen./ The Hindu

Representatives of various women’s organisations have come on to a common platform to build pressure on the UPA Government in support of their demand that the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill be passed in the winter session of Parliament.

At a meeting initiated by the city-based NGO Vasavya Mahila Mandali (VMM), women representatives of various political parties, voluntary organisations and service organisations unanimously resolved to work relentlessly for achievement of 33 per cent quota for women in legislative bodies.

Former MP Chennupati Vidya, who is also VMM president, said that it was time the ruling party proved its commitment to women’s rights and gender equality by passing the Bill in the winter session.

“The Bill has gained acceptance in Rajya Sabha and awaits approval of the Lok Sabha.

In the wake of the alarming increase in atrocities against the fairer sex, it is imperative to make women’s voice heard in Parliament. Various organisations have set out on the task of mobilising support for the Bill at the district, State and at national-level,” said Ms. Vidya.

She also churned out statistics of women’s representation in both the Houses of Parliament over the years to prove her point that the fairer sex had not been given what was due to her.

The NGO general secretary G. Rashmi spelled out an action plan drawn to spread awareness on the need to bring in the proposed law.

Signature campaign

She said that members of this conglomeration of organisations would fan out across the district and educate various sections of the society on all aspects related to the proposed Bill.

A signature campaign would be followed by a massive rally culminating into a public meeting on December 10, coinciding with International Human Rights Day.

Former Mayors Mallika Begum and Tadi Sakuntala, president of Mahila Samakhya P. Durga Bhavani, Lok Satta president Sarala Kumari, BJP’s mahila wing national president M. Revathi, YSR Congress Party city convenor Suneetha, Lion’s Club former district governor Vidyawathi, Inner Wheel Club district unit chairperson Prameela Rani, Vasavi Club past governor T. Gayathri, Bezawada Bar Association secretary D. Sujatha, Indira Kranthi Padhakam additional project director Kalika Devi, Arthika Samatha Mandali secretary Nou among others pledged their support to what they called a crusade to achieve 33 per cent quota for women in legislative bodies.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – December 01st, 2013

UoH Graduate Develops Coin-operated Laundry

December 17, 2013Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technologyadmin

The affordable laundry system, made of three washing machines and coin acceptors from China on display at the University of Hyderabad campus on Monday. (Inset) Surendra Kesana | EXPRESS PHOTO

Tired of washing your own clothes? One would probably think of buying a washing machine. For 25-year-old Surendra Kesana, an MBA graduate from University of Hyderabad, this was a business opportunity. He developed a coin-operated laundry system, which provides laundry services at affordable rates and is reliable too.

A native of Vijayawada, Surendra developed the unique laundry system as part of his major project in MBA. Making use of his technical expertise of electronics and instrumentation engineering from his B. Tech days and management skills acquired during the MBA course at UoH, Surendra set out to achieve his aim of becoming an entrepreneur. In September, he opened his first coin-operated laundry outlet in the university and proudly claims a customer base of over 1,000 users till date. “What I have done is basically to indigenise similar systems available abroad. But, what makes my system different is the cost involved and the fact that I was able to convert a domestic washing machine for commercial purposes,” says Surendra who graduated from university in 2013. While a laundry system used commercially would cost anywhere between `3 -4 lakh, Surendra’s systems come for a mere `20,000.

He bought three 4 kg washing machines on EMIs and used his savings to set up laundrette – his outlet in the university. “We got the coin acceptors from China as they are not available in India and assembled the systems. We use a custom made copper coin for each cycle of 4 kg of clothes,” he said. He charges `50 per cycle.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / December 17th, 2013

Hyderabad Biotechnologist in Marquis Who’s Who

December 17, 2013Education, Science & Technology, World Opinionadmin

Zahoorullah S MD, assistant professor of biotechnology at JBR Engineering College, showing the letter received from Marquis Who’s Who in the World informing him of his name’s inclusion in the 2014 edition of the book at a press conference in Hyderabad on Monday. | RVK Rao

City-based biotechnologist and scientist Zahoorullah Shaikh Mohammed’s biography has been selected and enlisted for publication by Marquis Who’s Who in the World for year 2014.

The 29-year old is currently working as an assistant professor of biotechnology at Joginpally BR Engineering College here. A resident of Aziz Bagh Colony in Tolichowki, Zahoorullah has taught 27 subjects in engineering, presented 20 national and international research papers, attended 20 workshops and authored seven books. His lectures are available on the Internet and are being shared by many foreign universities, according to a press release issued here on Monday.

Marquis Who’s Who, established in 1899, is a renowned American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies of individuals who are achievers in their respective fields. A subsidiary of News Communications Inc, the books are usually titled, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, Who’s Who in American Politics, etc.

An M.Tech and Ph.D in biotechnology, Zahoorullah became an assistant professor at a young age of 23 and his appointment was ratified by JNTUH. He was also a teacher certified by Dale Carnegie Training Institute, USA in high-impact teaching skills.

He sent his biography in January and, after several stages of screening, its enlistment has been confirmed recently. “I want to become a very well-known scientist and motivate youngsters towards research. Despite having several good laboratories, our students are lagging behind in research. My only aim is to establish myself through innovation in science and engineering, and motivate others,” Zahoorullah told Express.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / December 03rd, 2013

Indian Navy to set up more facilities at Kakinada port

December 17, 2013Business & Economyadmin

Visakhapatnam :

The Indian Navy is planning to set up more facilities at Kakinada port to safeguard the country’s maritime interests, according to Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command.

He told reporters here on board stealth frigate INS Sahyadri on Tuesday that a base would be set up at Kakinada, deploying some high speed boats to protect the offshore assets and strengthen the defence capabilities in the region.

He said the Navy would be establishing a jetty at Kakinada port along with the Coast Guard for their operations. It is also establishing its amphibious warfare training school at Kakinada.

Naval air enclaves

As part of strengthening the operations on the east coast, the Navy would establish naval air enclaves at Tuticorin, Bhubaneswar and Behala in Kolkata. It is already operating an air station in Meenambakkam.

The Navy is in the process of acquiring land and developing it at a number of places in the State. The Eastern Naval Command is looking at developing an airstrip near Bobilli in Vizianagaram district that was used during the Second World War as an alternative landing station to INS Dega.

The indigenously built nuclear submarine INS Arihant has successfully completed its harbour acceptance trials and would be soon be embarking on sea acceptance trials.

Once commissioned, INS Arihant along with INS Chakra would be a force multiplier and help the Indian Navy become a true blue sea navy, he said.

He said: “It is a matter of great pride that all the new ships that are being commissioned are indigenously built.’’ Three more Shivalik class stealth frigates would be joining service soon.

He said the proposal to purchase four landing platform docks from Hindustan Shipyard Ltd here awaits the Government approval, and it may come soon.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Logistics / by Ch. R.S. Sarma sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in / Visakhapatnam – December 03rd, 2013

Watch a Tyson in the making

December 16, 2013Records, All, Sportsadmin

Nikhat Zareen, who won the silver medal in the recent World Youth women's boxing championship, shares a lighter moment with the young Abdur Rehman at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. / -Photo: V.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu — Nikhat Zareen, who won the silver medal in the recent World Youth women’s boxing championship, shares a lighter moment with the young Abdur Rehman at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. / -Photo: V.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu

12-year-old Abdul Rehman has won five gold, three silver and two silver in the School Games competitions

potential new star is rising from the boxing area in the city. Abdur Rehman (12) has caught the eye of the coaches and boxing connoisseurs with his natural movements while sparring with the punching bag.

The eighth standard student of St. Andrews School in Saidabad took to the sport watching the video tapes of Mohammad Ali and Mike Tyson has already made a mark at the national level having won five gold, three silver and two silver in the School Games competitions.

“I have rarely seen such a young boy with such lithe movements. Even some regular trainees in the seniors age group group can’t match him,” insists SAAP boxing coach Omkar Yadav.

He even impressed the likes of World Youth Boxing silver medallist Nikhat Zareen.

“He looks really good and appears to have so much of natural talent,” remarked Zareen after watching him in practise few days ago.

“I want to emulate Zareen,” says the shy Abdur Rehman, nicknamed Maaz. He will be soon competing in the Sub-junior nationals. Given the rich history of boxers from Hyderabad and with a dedicated coach in Omkar Yadav, this young boy could well bring laurels to the city.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – October 16th, 2013

Women shine in green business

December 15, 2013Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technologyadmin

Picture for representational purpose only.

Hyderabad:

Planning to become a woman entrepreneur? Young women from the state are setting up new businesses and are doing pretty well for themselves.

Several women entrepreneurs came together at the three-day international conference on ‘Green Enterprises and Green Industrial Parks’ organised by ALEAP. The international conference brought women entrepreneurs, sponsors and government officials on a common platform.

Present at the conference was Anusha Barrela, 23. She is the founder and president of three different firms — Bio Conservation Foundation, Saatyaki Foundation and Siaa Enterprises. “The Bio Conservation Foundation aims at rehabilitating endangered flora and fauna. We are currently working on saving the Olive Ridley sea turtle.

In our hatcheries along the east coast of the Bay of Bengal, we store turtle eggs and nourish the hatchlings, which are then released into the sea with the help of the forest department,” she explained. Elephants and sparrows are on the list too.

She is also the founder of Apple Tree (Saatyaki Foundation), a pre-primary school that brings an international curriculum for pre-primary education to South India. Siaa Enterprises deals with publishing children’s books.

Aishwarya, 26, who had a stall at the show, started Tint and Tones, her textile business, about six months ago. The firm deals in organic, hand-woven textiles. A graduate of the Parsons’ School of Design, New York, Aishwarya says, “We work with weavers to develop different kinds of fabrics.”

Speaking about business parks for women entrepreneurs, Rajat Kumar, the commissioner of industries, said, “APIIC is identifying land for these parks. Currently, three such parks at Visakhapatnam, Kadapa and Nellore are being developed by ALEAP. Others will begin soon.”

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

P V Sindhu wins Macau Open

December 15, 2013Records, All, Sportsadmin

Hyderabad:

The rising star of Indian badminton, P.V . Sindhu of Hyderabad, continued her remarkable run on Sunday when she won the Macau Open Grand Prix.

In the final, World No.11 Sindhu, seeded first at the tournament, registered a brisk 21-15, 21-12 victory against seventh-seeded Canadian Michelle Li.

Sindhu was in dominant form right from the start of the match. In the first game, Sindhu reeled off several winners to take a 7-0 within just two minutes of the start of play before Li gathered her wits.

But the lanky shuttler -one of badminton’s most promising players -refused to relent against the World No.30.

Despite her opponent clawing her way back to 69, Sindhu took the first game 21-15 in only 16 minutes.

Compared to the first, the second game started on a slightly even note with both players going neck and neck for the first few minutes.

Li was more dominant closer to the net while Sindhu was the stronger player at the baseline.

With the scores level on 5-5, Sindhu broke the deadlock to go into the lead and was soon placed comfortably at 11-6. From there, the World No.11 did not ease up on the momentum as she piled on the points, showing better control to emerge champion in the lop-sided encounter.

According to chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, at whose academy in Gachibowli Sindhu trains, they worked on Sindhu’s game after she pulled out of the China Open. “At the Academy, we worked extensively on speed and aggression while preparing her for the tournament and she executed it well in Macau,“ Gopi said.

Sindhu enjoyed a phenomenal year in 2013.

After winning the Grand Prix Gold title in Malaysia in May, she went on to become the first woman’s singles medalwinner at the World Championships in August.

It was also India’s first singles medal at the Worlds after Prakash Padukone’s bronze in 1983.

She was then conferred the prestigious Arjuna Award after which, she enjoyed great success at the Indian Badminton League. Sindhu captained the Lucknow-based Awadhe Warriors into the final, where they eventually lost to the Saina Nehwal-led Hyderabad Hotshots.

With this victory, Sindhu cements her place as the next big thing in Indian badminton after the reigning queen, Saina.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Sports> Others Sports / DC / Vijay Anand / December 02nd, 2013

TinkerTank Technologies wins ISB’s iDiya Challenge

December 15, 2013Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technologyadmin

The student-driven competition aims to stimulate, enable and develop high-impact, self-sustaining social businesses in India.

Tinker Tank Technologies, a ready-to-go-operational start-up venture, has emerged winner of the fifth edition of iDiyaChallenge, a one-week-long social venture competition that concluded at Indian School of Business (ISB)’s Hyderabad campus on Saturday.

The student-driven competition aims to stimulate, enable and develop high-impact, self-sustaining social businesses in India. Sponsored by ISB, this year’s programme has received 40 applications from participants across the state.

TinkerTank , which has developed Doopica, a low-cost semi-automated incense-stick machine that eliminates hard labour while producing more with less effort, helping women produce four times more incense sticks and increasing their monthly income by Rs 5,000, received an investment support of Rs 2 lakh from ISB.

While Bodhi Health Education, another ready-to-go-operational start-up that aims to provide affordable medical education to health workers in rural and semi-urban areas of India, was the first runner-up, standing in the third place was Rematerials, which makes housing roofs out of waste material for people in villages and slums.

“It is not important to have great technology in order to innovate. It is important to make incremental changes and scale them up,” Jayaprakash Narayan, member of the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh and founder of Loksatta party, said in a release.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business> Companies> News / by K Rajani Kanth / Hyderabad – December 01st, 2013

Granules India looks at further expansion

December 14, 2013Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinionadmin

Granules expects to post a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore this financial year as against Rs 764 crore in 2012-13

Hyderabad-based drug maker Granules India Limited, which recently acquired Auctus Pharma for Rs 120 crore, is looking towards further expansion of its business through both organic and inorganic routes.“We strongly believe in growing our businesses and we are looking at organic growth. But if something comes up by the way that fits into our model, we may be looking at it (acquiring that company),” Granules managing director, C Krishna Prasad, told Business Standard.Granules is looking at further expansions even though its executive director, Harsha Chigurupati, feels that the company will be able to “easily” achieve a turnover of Rs 2,000-3,000 crore with its existing products.Granules expects to post a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore this financial year as against Rs 764 crore in 2012-13. In the first half of the current fiscal, its turnover stood at Rs 490 crore.According to Chigurupati, the company is not going to acquire to add more molecules. It will acquire to add more capacities. However, as the Granules business model is volume driven, there are very few companies in the market that can cater to its capacities. Hence, Granules is forced to go for greenfield investments.

“We are laying very strong foundations for the future and the results will be seen four years from today,” Prasad said. Meanwhile, the company would continue to maintain its annual growth rate of 20-25 per cent, he added.

He said the real benefit of Auctus acquisition would be realised 3-4 years down the line. During the same period, Granules Omnichem Pvt Ltd would be fully operational.

GOPL is a joint venture between Granules and Belgium-based fine chemicals maker Ajinomoto Omnichem. The new facility, being set up at a cost of Rs 185 crore in Visakhapatnam, will be operational next year. However, it had to secure USFDA approvals to realise its full potential. This is expected to take 3-4 years.

Granules will be entering the contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) space through the JV. It intends to manufacture high value active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular, CNS and oncology. Additionally, the JV will work on second generation manufacturing processes to increase manufacturing efficiencies.

“The advantage with Ajinomoto Omnichem is that it is all about quality and there is no price pressure. The second advantage is that this gives us access to the type of management and companies that we do not have traditionally. That access opens up a lot of doors for us,” Chigurupati said.

With regard to Auctus, he said the main advantage was that it had FDA approved products. With these products, backed by Granules marketing strength, “the customers we get are significantly different. So, margins and revenues will improve.”

Prasad is not worried about global pharmaceutical majors setting shop in India and their likelihood of competing with domestic companies in future in exporting products to the regulatory markets.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by Prashanth Chintala / Hyderabad – November 28th, 2013

Reliance cash & carry store in Hyderabad

December 14, 2013Business & Economyadmin

Company states store is equipped with modern storage facilities to ensure freshness of all food products.

Reliance Retail , the retail arm of Reliance Industries Limited, has launched its cash & carry store, ‘Reliance Market’ in Hyderabad, its first wholesale store in the city. With over 41,000 sft space, the company stated, the store is equipped with modern storage facilities. There is a range of over 7,000 products, both food and non-food, with a large proportion of them sourced locally.

It ranges from fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries, stationery, footwear as well as electronics and IT products. As the store caters to traders and other businesses, one needs to have a business licence issued either by the government, municipality or panchayat to become a member. Membership is being initially offered free of cost, a release stated.