Monthly Archives: December 2013

The glorious pages of our rich history

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion
Khusrau espies Shirin bathing, a page from the ‘Khamsa-e-Nizami’ book. / Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Khusrau espies Shirin bathing, a page from the ‘Khamsa-e-Nizami’ book. / Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu

Bearing excellent paintings, richly illuminated and gilded, the fine-bound manuscripts at Salar Jung Museum are real treasures.

Salar Jung Museum contains some ‘valuable books of art’— illustrated manuscripts — of Persian and Deccani languages. Bearing excellent paintings, richly illuminated and gilded, fine-bound and owned once by royal personages the Museum’s manuscripts are real treasures.

Manuscript illustration was greatly prized by Mughal emperors, their nobles and Deccani Sultans. Akbar who had 100 artists – painters, illuminators, scribes, book binders – in his atelier had many manuscripts including Hamza Nama, Ramayana, Mahabharata illustrated. His principal noble at Ahmedabad, Khan Khanan, built up a world class library containing illustrated manuscripts. Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, who ruled Golconda from 1550 to 1580, had set up a studio in his palace for calligraphers, painters, gilders and book binders and had manuscripts of fine quality produced.

‘The art books’ of the royal workshops form a priceless heritage, “at times of regal splendour…. and always a joy to behold” (Karl Khandalavala).

Of Salar Jung Museum’s famous illustrated manuscripts, a description of four books is attempted here. They are: Tuhfe-e-Sami, Majalis-ul-ushshaq, Khamsa-e-nizami, and Diwan-e-sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah.

1. Tuhfe-e-Sami: The author of this 229-folio Persian manuscripts is Prince Sam Mirza (1517-76), son of Shah Ismail, the founder of Safavid dynasty in Persia. Prince Sam Mirza dedicated Tuhfa containing biographies of poets, painters, calligrgaphers and other learned men to his brother Shah Tahmasp (1524-76), the ruler of Persia who, however, put ‘Sam’ to death in 1576 when he rebelled against him. The manuscript is gilded and highly ornamented. Done in Shirazi style of Persia the Thufa’s ten miniatures “are of excellent quality and very colourful with charming colour contrast’’ (Karl Khandalavala).

The manuscript scripted in fine Nastaliq bears a seal of the year of A.D. 1651 of one Mustafa Khan Lari, who was probably a Golconda noble.

2. Majalis-ul-ushshaq ( Assemblies of lovers): Purchased by Sir Salar Jung I (1829-83), ‘Majalis-ul-ushshaq’ is an account in Persian of the Sufi saints being in love with women and men. Sufi doctrines explain that to experience the beauty of the ‘unseen’ God the first step is the worldly love – love of women and men. The power and course of such love as experienced by some Sufi saints is depicted in majority of the 71 miniatures contained in the manuscript.

The book has a lot of gold used in decorating its 237 folios, headings and borders. The painting style of its miniatures is of Shirazi school of Persia.

The author of this manuscript is Mansur bin Baiqara (1469-1506) who wrote it in 1552. The script is good Nastaliq and the scribe is Amir-al-katib.

3. Khamsa-e-nizami: The Khamsa (five-piece verse collection) of the poet Nizami, a Persian poet, is one of the most famous Persian works and there are numerous illustrated copies of it in Persian and Mughal schools of painting. The Mughal style Museum’s Khamsa was purchased in 1739 for the library of Nawab Munirddoulah Wakil-us-sultan (Prime Minister). It consists of five ‘mathnavis’ (long poems) dealing with the stories of Laila-Majnun, Khusrau-Shirin, King Behraum Gaur, Sikandar and Sufism.

It contains five unwans (title pages), gilded and highly ornamented. Its 325 creamish folios are gold sprinkled. Its eleven full-page miniatures show animals, brilliantly drawn and figures, finely painted. Dated A.D.1618, the scribe of Khamsa is Fatah Muhammed bin Moulana Sahib Katib and the script is good Nastaliq.

The manuscript bears the seal of Lutfullah khan, a noble of Mughal family, who appears to have died in Golconda when Aurangazeb was engaged in conquering the fort.

4. Diwan-e-sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah: Written in ‘Zubane-deccani’ by Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah who ruled from Golconda between 1581 and 1611 is regarded as the earliest poet in Deccani language(Urdu). He founded the city of Hyderabad and built the famous Charminar. His ‘Diwan’(odes) deals with subjects like sports and games, royal palaces, seasons and description of his 17 mistresses.

Dated 1595, the Diwan has eight miniatures, all gems of miniature art. It was written by Moulana Zainuddin, Khushnawis (calligrapher) of the Sultan. The paper used is gold sprinkled. The script is excellent Thulth. It has 138 handsome folios.

Deputy Keeper (Retd.), Salar Jung Museum

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by B. Kotaiah / September 19th, 2013

The book lovers’ delight is here

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Unlike previous years, entry to the Hyderabad Book Fair, which opens on Saturday, is free

The Hyderabad Book Fair is back.

NTR Stadium will play host to the much-awaited event organised by the National Book Trust in coordination with Hyderabad Book Fair Society from December 7 (Saturday) to 15. Interestingly, entry to the fair will be free.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan will inaugurate the event at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The fair will be open between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

With the National Book Trust assuming the mantle of the organiser, the nominal entry fee of Rs. 5 per head has been waived. This is expected to attract more footfalls, with the sprawling stadium premises housing nearly 380 stalls, up from last year’s 250.

According to the organisers, the refusal by the authorities to allow the exhibition at its regular venue – People’s Plaza on Necklace Road – is a blessing in disguise, as the rent payable has come down significantly, allowing space for more publishers.

National Book Trust director M.A. Sikandar  said a 10 per cent blanket discount would be available on all books at the fair.

Book promotion centre

The National Book Trust will soon open a book promotion centre at Literacy House on Andhra Mahila Sabha premises

, he added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – December 06th, 2013

Shell, GDF Suez to be part of LNG floating terminal project

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

In-principle agreement has been reached with the two international firms for the FSRU at Kakinada Deepwater Port

An in-principle agreement has been reached to resolve the peculiar situation where two reputed international companies are interested in constructing the first Floating LNG Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in the East Coast at Kakinada Deepwater Port.

The AP Gas Distribution Company had tied up with the GDF Suez LNG UK Ltd., as its strategic partner through international bidding and signed an MoU with Kakinada Seaport Ltd., the concessionaire of the Kakinada Deepwater Port for the execution of the Rs.5,000-crore project in May this year.

However, the State government later realised that the Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, had also been working on building a floating LNG of up to five million tonne per annum capacity off Kakinada. Since two projects in the same location were not viable, a meeting was held in New Delhi recently where it was tentatively agreed to involve both the multinationals.

Minister for Infrastructure Ganta Srinivasa Rao said the issue was cleared by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy who ordered a Special Purpose Vehicle to be constituted for executing the unit.

Stakes

Meanwhile, sources said that it had been agreed that the public sector APGDC would have 44 per cent stake in the floating terminal project, Shell and GDF Suez would have 30 per cent and 26 per cent stake respectively and the Kakinada Seaport Ltd., three per cent.

The meeting also reviewed pending issues related to Petronet LNG project at Gangavaram port, a joint venture project between Petronet and the Gangavaram Port Ltd. The Rs. 5,000-crore project would have initial capacity of five million tonnes per year. The gas to be supplied by the floating terminals to power and fertilizer plants would generate Rs.5,000 crore revenue annually to the State through VAT, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.

The Chief Minister asked the officials to convene a coordination meeting within 10 days to resolve all the pending issues for the key I&I projects including Machilipatnam port and Chittoor drinking water project.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 28th, 2013

Shell to join GAIL’s Kakinada LNG project with 30% stake

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Sources privy to talks said Shell, GAIL and the AP government are talking about the possible equity structure

ShellHF07dec2013

Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, is likely to take a 30% stake in state-owned GAIL India Ltd’s proposed floating liquefied natural gas import terminal project at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Shell last year had announced plans to build a floating LNG of up to 5 million tonnes per annum capacity off Kakinada coast in a JV with Anil Ambani Group firm  Reliance Power .
But Reliance Power earlier this year exited the project and now Shell has decided to join the GAIL-led project which was announced in 2011.
Sources privy to talks said Shell, GAIL and the AP government are talking about the possible equity structure.
Shell, they said, may take 30% stake. Europe’s largest LNG importer GDF Suex UK with whom GAIL originally planned the Kakinada terminal will take 26%.
The remaining 44% will be held by Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corp Ltd a company jointly promoted by GAIL Gas Ltd and Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corp Pvt Ltd.
GAIL Gas is wholly-owned subsidiary of GAIL India.
When contacted, a Shell India spokesperson said: “Shell can confirm that the company is in exploratory discussions with GAIL and other potential partners on the Kakinada LNG project. As the discussions are still preliminary, we cannot comment on any specifics at the moment.”
Sources said the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit in offshore Andhra Pradesh will be commissioned by 2015.
The import terminal would have a 3.5-5 million tonnes per annum capacity and will be used to cater to gas demand in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states.
While Shell already operates a 5 million tonne LNG import facility at Hazira in Gujarat, GDF Suez is present in India in the natural gas business since 1997, with a 10% stake in Petronet, the owner of LNG import terminals in Dahej and Kochi.
FSRU is a faster and low-cost solution for LNG importation. This is the first of its kind in India.
Kakinada is also the landfall point of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ flagging KG-D6 gas fields in the Bay of Bengal, and a near 1,400-km line carries the fuel from to consumption centres in the west.
The continuing fall in KG-D6 output has triggered a rush for setting up of LNG import facilities to meet the growing energy demands.
Petronet LNG – the nation’s largest importer of gas in its liquid form in ships– too is building a 5 million tonne facility at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh by 2016.
In intervening period to the construction of the Rs 4,000 crore Gangavaram terminal, Petronet plans to hire a floating LNG terminal to begin imports of fuel immediately.
State refiner Indian Oil Corp also is doing a front-end engineering and design study for a terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by Press Trust of India / New Delhi – November 24th, 2013

Finally, Araku gears up for annual fest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Visakhapatnam :

Preparations are on in full swing for the three-day Araku Utsav slated to be held between November 28 and 30, 2013, but the departments concerned are apprehensive of inclement weather playing spoilsport. Last year, the fest had to be canceled due to the strike by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) staff in October.

Araku Utsav, an annual affair, is organised by the department of tourism, Vizag, in collaboration with APTDC. Bhimashankar Rao, GM, APTDC, said, “Tourist inflow is slowly bouncing back to normalcy and we expect a good turnout at the festival provided the weather remains good. Unlike last year, when the festival was marred by staff strike, this time there’s no such problem. Hopefully, it won’t rain.”

Stating that the tourism department expects a tourist inflow of 3,000 to 4,000 at the festival this time, district tourism officer (DTO) S D Anita said the fest will be held at the Araku Tribal Museum premises. “A variety of tribal dances will be showcased, including those of the Banjaras from Nalgonda, Kummakoya from Khammam, Garagalu from East Godavari and Sambalpudi from Odisha. There will also be a photo exhibition depicting the tribal ways of life. Special counters to showcase the innovative methods they use to store seeds and their ways of organic farming are being put up ,” she explained.

While APTDC has already sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for the festival, the department is seeking another Rs 2 lakh, she said, expressing hope that the rains don’t spoil the mood of the entire fest.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Aptdc / TNN / November 24th, 2013

Young entrepreneurs line up with ideas at Startup weekend

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

The fourth Startup Weekend event in the city saw hearty participation from first-time entrepreneurs who slogged it out to turn an idea into a prototype within 54 hours.

Startup Weekend is a Seattle based non-profit organization which conducts this event once every year. Participants pitch business ideas on Friday and develop a working prototype or a presentation over the weekend. Besides Hyderabad, the event takes places in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

This year, the event saw nearly 50 ideas being floated by the 60 people who attended it. Of these, 11 ideas were selected for further development. The teams were mentored by venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs in their bid to prepare a prototype for a presentation before the panel of judges on Sunday.

A few ideas that were selected for implementation include Teleport – a product that helps share environment with others through Google Glass, ThenWat – a web platform that can provide the sentiment of a text, Green Shopping – that avoids paper bills by making a digital bill, and Panic Controller – a device that can broadcast panic messages meant for safety of children and women.

Evan Luthra, whose team is working on Teleport, said that there are only five applications for Glass available and their idea taps a huge market potential. “Our application can capture pictures through Glass when the eye winks and also capture a degree panorama to share the environment of the wearer with rest of the world,” Luthra said

Though most paranoramaticipants were in the 20-25 age bracket, the event also saw younger people pitch their ideas. Sixteen-year-old B Vivek Kiran, who pitched two ideas, said the event “is an ideal platform to start out early”. His ideas included a banking application and a website that would help school and college students procure electronic components in a short time.

One of the organizers, Rahul Sanghi, said that the event has witnessed better participation this time. “We are seeing more participants hang around to develop a prototype and convince the judges. This is positive for the spirit of entrepreneurship ,” he said.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Google Glass / TNN / November 24th, 2013

“Visakhapatnam port mechanisation will bring about a lot of change”

Business & Economy, Science & Technology
A cargo handling at night at Visakhapatnam Port./ Photo: K.R. Deepak / The Hindu
A cargo handling at night at Visakhapatnam Port./ Photo: K.R. Deepak / The Hindu

‘We are gearing up to overcome its shortcomings’

Admitting that there was delay in initiating measures to face challenges posed by ultra modern ports coming in its neighbourhood during pre-2008, Visakhapatnam Port Trust Deputy Chairman G.V.L. Satya Kumar said massive mechanisation was under way to put the port back on the track.

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu on Saturday, he said two deep draft private ports – Gangavaram, 10 km. south of Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam, between Chennai and Kakinada with Cape class vessel handling facilities were commissioned during late 2008.

This threatened the hitherto sway of Visakhapatnam Port in the vast hinterland, he pointed out.

The single buoy mooring (SBM) by IOC at Paradip and augmentation of deep sea port at Kakinada ensured faster discharge of cargo making a dent on the performance of Visakhapatnam Port.

The commissioning of Dhamra and impending start of Gopalpur has aggravated the challenge ahead for VPT.

Mr. Satya Kumar said with already lost time, with superior capability ports having sprung up in the vicinity, Visakhapatnam Port pursued the modernisation initiatives with utmost vigour using the instruments of Public Private Partnership Policy Guidelines of 2008.

With seven awarded and two in the process of finalisation under PPP, the port will increase its current capacity from 62 to 112 million tonne by 2014-15, he said.

Coal handling facility

He said the commissioning of 10 million tonne mechanised coal handling facility in the Outer Harbour in April was the first in the port sector under the new PPP guidelines.

Other projects awarded so far include EQ-10 for liquid cargo other than POL, EQ-1 for imported coal, EQ-1A for export of coastal coal, EQ-7 for fertilizer, WQ-6 for other bulk and Ore Handling Plant (OHP) for iron ore. Essar Ports has been selected for Rs.845-crore modernisation of OHP and the price bid of Visakha Container Terminal for Rs.633-crore extension of container terminal is at present under evaluation.

VPT is taking up construction of new berths at WQ-7/8 with internal accruals. Except EQ-7 fertilizer mechanisation awarded to Alba and OHP to Essar, all other PPP projects are in advanced stage of completion. Mr. Satya Kumar said by December-end, they were confident of all three coal streams would be fully mechanised viz. Visakhapatnam General Cargo Berth Private Ltd (Vedanta berth), EQ-1 and EQ-1A along with EQ-10 for liquid cargo and WQ-6 for other dry bulk.

To a question, he admitted that the decommissioning of three existing berths in the Inner Harbour had caused some dislocation and pointed out that it was being compensated to some extent through monitoring and optimisation of existing resources.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Santosh Patnaik / Visakhapatnam – November 25th, 2013

TASL seeks approval to expand chopper facility at Hyderabad

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Hyderabad:

Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), which has a chopper cabin manufacturing facility in an SEZ owned by Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd here, sought government’s approval to expand its facility to manufacture additional defence-related products.

TAShf04dec2013

The Board of Approvals under the Ministry of Commerce which has gone through the request made by the Tatas advised the Department of Commerce to obtain the views of the Ministries of Home and Defence before granting the permission for product expansion.

“The Board noted that the unit has sought approval for additional products relating to defence. The Board, after deliberations decided that the views of M/o Defence and M/o Home Affairs be obtained by DoC and the matter be processed further on file by DoC after taking into account the comments so received,” the minutes of the BoA meeting held on November 8, said.

TASL, a fully-owned subsidiary of TATA Sons, has been set to address the business areas of Defence, Aerospace, Aero- Structures and Homeland Security.

In June 2009, Sikorsky and TASL entered into an agreement for production of S-92 helicopter cabins in India, and in November of the same year, Sikorsky and TASL entered into a joint-venture for production of more than 5,000 detailed aerospace components in India.

TASL requested the BoA for manufacturing and export of additional products with regard of aerostructures, equipment, systems and propulsion systems, for military aircraft (both fixed with and rotary aircraft) and military helicopters.TASL, a fully-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, has been set to address the business areas of Defence, Aerospace, Aero- Structures and Homeland Security.

In June 2009, Sikorsky and TASL entered into an agreement for production of S-92 helicopter cabins in India, and in November of the same year, Sikorsky and TASL entered into a joint-venture for production of more than 5,000 detailed aerospace components in India.

TASL requested the BoA for manufacturing and export of additional products with regard of aerostructures, equipment, systems and propulsion systems, for military aircraft (both fixed with and rotary aircraft) and military helicopters.

The JV of TASL and Sikorsky recently announced that its S-92 helicopter cabin production has become 100 per cent indigenous. The JV also said it completed another significant milestone in October by producing its 50th S-92 helicopter cabin. The TASL facility now has the capacity to produce up to four cabins a month and is responsible for future design modifications.

source: http://www.zeenews.india.com / ZEEBIZ.com / Home> Business> Companies / by PTI / November 19th, 2013

Tally Solutions ties up with Osmania University

Education, Science & Technology

Bangalore :

Tally Solutions has tied up with Osmania University to provide vocational training to students through distance education.

As part of the collaboration, students undergoing the programme will be offered a month of training, for which all the learning material will be provided by Tally, according to a company statement.

Further, Osmania University will award them with a certificate on successful completion of the course. The plan is to extend this programme to more number of colleges in and around Hyderabad under Osmania University, the statement added.

Shoaib Ahmed, President, Tally Solutions, said: “We strongly believe that providing the right vocational training will go a long way in addressing the unemployability crisis that the country is facing. Students have to be skilled enough to sustain in this competitive industry.”

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / BusinessLine / Home> Industry> Info-Tech / by The Hindu Bureau / Bangalore – November 20th, 2013

Rahul lifts State’s glory to greater heights

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Ragala Venkat Rahul / The Hindu
Ragala Venkat Rahul / The Hindu

Ragala Venkata Rahul wins two gold medals at the Commonwealth Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship in Penang

Ragala Venkata Rahul, 17, lived up to the expectations with yet another impressive performance, winning two gold medals in the youth and junior categories at the ongoing Commonwealth Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship in Penang (Malaysia) on Friday afternoon.

Rahul has won gold in the 77-kg category with a combined effort of 301 kg (140 in snatch and 160 in clean and jerk). The A.P. boy came up with similar efforts in both the categories to clinch the honours.

“I am delighted. My coaches are expecting better results after my recent performances in international meets. So, there was a little bit of pressure, but thanks to the support of the entire Indian contingent, I could pull of a gold medal,” says a beaming Rahul, a student of A.P. Sports School, Hakimpet.

Rahul looks at the latest gold as a “huge morale-booster” for the coming year in which some big events are lined up like the 2014 Asian Games.

“I hope to continue my good work till that mega event and come back home with a medal,” says the shy weightlifter.

“Competition is tough at this level, and it is never easy to win gold in any Asian meet, as every country looks to this event as a preparatory event for the major events ahead,” he says, thanking his mentor and secretary of A.P. Weightlifting Association Badeti Venkatramaiah (also in Penang as a technical official).

Rahul bagged a gold medal in the 77-kg category with a combined lift of 310 kg at the Asian Youth Games in Nanjing (China) after winning three gold in the Asian Youth Championship early this year. His other notable performances include two medals in the IWF Youth Boys World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, early this year.

A.P. Sports School weightlifting coach Surmise Achou Singh of Manipur, who fine-tuned Rahul’s raw talent in the company of his deputy Pachipala Manikyalu, is not surprised.

“Rahul is a potential medallist in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He has all the qualities to be a world-class weightlifter, and more exposure at the highest level will only help to improve his performances,” attests the 67-year-old proud coach.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – November 29th, 2013