Category Archives: Inspiration / Positive News and Features

New breed of entrepreneurs emerge in Telangana’s Covid fight

Telangana has a total of 45076 confirmed cases of SARS-COV-2 as of 19 July. As many as 12224 are active and under treatment.

The consistent rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the community has now left everyone looking for ways to stop the virus from entering their homes.

A few days ago, Ganesh Babu, secretary of an apartment society near Hyderabad’s Indira Park, ensured all 185 flats in the society were disinfected and sanitized. This was just a precautionary measure but it has become a necessity in present times, he says.

“We had 15 positive cases of COVID-19 in our society. Four families were infected and quarantined at home. Though they have all recovered, we did not want to take a chance when we came to know about this,” says Babu, who himself is a senior citizen, adding that the work was professional.

Each and every house, as well as the exteriors and common areas, were disinfected by a professional team. Further, the society has also entered into a contract with them to get the premises sanitized every three days.

Twenty-nine-year-old Adke Pradeep Kumar, with his degree in MSc Biotech, calls himself one of the early entrants in the booming business of fumigation services in Hyderabad.

The consistent rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the community has now left everyone looking for ways to stop the virus from entering their homes. Especially, as one is now advised to learn to live with the virus. With facemasks, hand sanitizers and physical distancing now part of the new normal, the fear of contracting the disease is prevalent. With this, new businesses have emerged. Mainly, that of sterilizing and disinfecting residences, office spaces and businesses.

Twenty-nine-year-old Adke Pradeep Kumar, with his degree in MSc Biotech, calls himself one of the early entrants in the booming business of fumigation services in Hyderabad. He along with his cousin Thotlapalepu Methuselah, and friend Vattepu Sabastian, started the business over a month ago and now boasts of a long list of clientele.Coronavirus Explained.

“There are people offering fumigation services using bleaching powder, but what we offer is three-layer sanitation. There is a huge demand. Initially, people used to call us just as a precaution but now with the rising number of COVID-19 cases, everyone is worried and wants to stay safe,” says Kumar.

His teams use sprinklers to spray sodium hypochlorite and ethanol-based sanitizers for exteriors, fogging machines to smoke interiors with sodium hypochlorite, and also use UV-sanitizer guns for all surfaces and common touchpoints inside the home. Currently, they have contracts with around 35 corporate offices, two franchisees of a leading international fast food joint, apart from several apartment societies in Hyderabad. They have already expanded their business to Khammam district, too.

“We started with three of us and now we have five regular teams with 20 members each. We can hire more workers if needed. It takes around 40 minutes to completely sanitize a house,” says 21-year-old Methuselah, who was waiting to go abroad for higher studies when the lockdown was imposed in March.

He says the intention was not to make money but to help prevent community transmission. They charge Re 1 per sqft for residential contracts and Rs 1.5 per sqft for commercial works. “We took guidance from several doctors and experts. Our service is a necessity today. It is not about making money,” he adds.

It was around the same time last month that Palwai Jason and wife Sirisha, both MSc Microbiologists by education, started their business of disinfection and sanitization. He teamed up with seven other professional Microbiologists from his known circle to offer pharma-grade sterilization. After testing waters by offering services to individual households, apartments, and corporate offices, Jason says he wants to focus on the sanitization of restaurants.

“As microbiologists, we are trained to keep every inch of our lab clean and hygienic. My experience of working in the pharma industry and knowledge from working in different virology labs has helped me gain a better understanding,” he says. It was when a friend asked him to help with sterilizing his restaurant, in the wake of COVID-19 situation, that he realized the potential in what he already knew.

Jason’s team is currently doing regular sanitization of three restaurants in the city. His team uses formaldehyde solution and glutaraldehyde solution for fumigation. Last month, he completed FSSAI training for food and restaurant management handling in the present COVID-19 situations. With this, he is offering services ranging from restaurant sterilization to food contamination analysis and biowaste management.

“With guidance from the CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, he uses ethyl alcohol-based disinfectants for food-grade at the restaurants. We use UV static pass boxes (medical grade) for food and cutlery, and also recommend biodegradable tableware,” says Jason, who also works as a lab technician on a contractual basis for testing COVID-19 samples at one of the government medical colleges in the city. A weekly certificate of disinfection, sanitation, and quality management for a restaurant costs Rs 15,000. The process involves five to seven hours of work every night after regular restaurant work hours.

Noting that there is a spike in the number of buildings and apartment societies opting for a complete COVID-19 sanitization, Anand Kataria, a businessman and vendor of disinfectants, says that people just want to be on the safer side and are using all available options. “In my opinion, the effect of disinfection stays for not more than 24 hours, but people still want to get it done. There is a huge demand, especially, in buildings where a majority of residents are senior citizens.,” he pointed out.

Telangana has a total of 45076 confirmed cases of SARS-COV-2 as of 19 July. As many as 12224 are active and under treatment. Of them, 1900 are in different hospitals whereas the rest are in home isolation and care. At least 415 persons have succumbed to the disease.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Rahul V. Pisharody / Hyderabad – July 20th, 2020

Asian Institute of Gastroenterology celebrates 25 years of service with master blaster

The Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) celebrated 25 years of service with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday.

Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar at an interactive chat session with doctors and staff during the silver jubilee celebrations of the hospital in Hyderabad on Thursday

Hyderabad : 

The Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) celebrated 25 years of service with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday. The sports icon interacted and inspired the patients, attendants and the AIG staff before addressing a gathering in the auditorium. 

This was followed by the master blaster participating in an interactive session with Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, AIG hospital. 

Over the past 25 years, AIG has evolved from an outpatient medical centre to one of the world’s largest hospitals. The hospital’s in-patient services started in 1994 and expanded in 2004 when a 300-bedded hospital was started in Somajiguda. 

Over 25,00,000 patients with gastrointestinal problems have been treated during this period. In addition to this, the hospital is also committed to community services. Over one crore people have been screened for gastrointestinal disorders through their community or rural screening programmes. Free gastrointestinal camps have been held in specialised vans, fitted with all types of equipment so that endoscopy, endoscopic surgery, ultrasound and other specialised procedures can be done even in remote rural areas connected via satellite link to the main hospital.

The hospital is involved in academics and research, and over 500 Indian doctors and 300 international doctors have been trained in the field of gastroenterology during this period. The focus has been on training in cutting-edge research, and also training in cutting-edge techniques and technologies which are in endoscopy and liver areas.

In the field of research, AIG has been a pioneer in new therapies for various diseases, including therapies for TYPE 3 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, gastrointestinal cancers, new surgical techniques like NOTES (Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery) and treatment of pancreatic diseases.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / September 27th, 2019

P.V. Sindhu becomes first Indian to win Badminton World Championships gold

India’s Pusarla Sindhu in action during her final women’s singles match.   | Photo Credit: Reuters

The Badminton Association of India has announced a cash reward of ₹20 lakh for Sindhu and ₹5 lakh for B. Sai Praneeth who won a bronze in the BWF World Championship,

P.V. Sindhu on Sunday became the first Indian to win a Badminton World Championships gold by beating familiar rival Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in a lop-sided final here on Sunday.

The Indian won 21-7 21-7 in the summit clash that lasted just 38 minutes.

Two years after being robbed off the gold by Okuhara in an epic 110-minute final at Glasgow that went down as one of the greatest battles in badminton history, Sindhu finally exorcised the ghost of that heart-wrenching loss with a completely dominating win over the same opponent.

It was Sindhu’s fifth World Championships medal — joint most for a woman singles player with former Olympics and world champion Zhang Ning of China — to go with the two successive silvers and a couple of bronze medals.

Sindhu has also won an Olympic silver in 2016 Rio Games, a silver at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, an Asian Games silver at Jakarta and the BWF World Tour Finals last year.

The fifth seeded Indian, who enjoyed a 8-7 head-to-head lead over third seeded Okuhara ahead of Sunday’s contest, was simply unstoppable as she dished out an attacking game right from the start to race to 8-1 lead.

The Indian targeted the deep corners and unleashed her big smashes to gather points at will.

A precise net shot helped Okuhara to snap Sindhu’s run of straight eight points but the Sindhu quickly got the control back when Okuhara went wide and then unleashed two good-looking smashes to enter the break with a massive 11-2 lead.

Okuhara tried to step up the pace but an alert Sindhu was up to the task. The Indian targeted Okuhara’s forehand corner to take two more points.

Sindhu used her height to produce those attacking clears which Okuhara could not negotiate. At 16-2, Sindhu committed a couple of unforced errors before again taking control of the match.

Sindhu eventually grabbed as many as 13 game points when Okuhara went long and she sealed the first game with a body blow which her rival sent out.

In the second game, Sindhu continued her rampaging form, grabbing two quick points before Okuhara earned a point with a cross court smash.

Okuhara had no answer to Sindhu’s razor sharp returns. The latter made Okuhara run to the deep corners with her acute angled returns and then swiftly followed them at the net to make life difficult for her opponent.

Okuhara seemed clueless as she ended up hitting the nets or missing the lines to allow Sindhu grab 11-4 lead at the interval.

At 16-4, Sindhu made a couple of rare errors when she hit long but that did not matter as she pounced on a weak return from Okuhara and sent it to the backline and then left her rival stranded with another powerful smash.

Sindhu grabbed the match point when Okuhara went long again and sealed the title when another superb return before throwing her hands in the air in celebration.

With Sindhu’s gold and Praneeth’s bronze in this edition, Indian shuttlers also continued the six-year streak of winning at least one medal in the prestigious event.

Watch | P.V. Sindhu’s journey to victory

BAI announces cash reward for Sindhu, Praneeth

Badminton Association of India on Sunday announced a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for PV Sindhu and Sai Praneeth for their historic feats in the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland.

“BAI President @himantabiswa announces cash award of ₹20 lakh for World Champion @Pvsindhu1 and ₹5 lakh for @saiprneeth92 for their historic performance at the #bwfworldchampionship2019,” tweeted BAI.

While Sindhu became the first Indian to win a World Championships gold, Praneeth ended a 36-year wait after Prakash Padukone’s feat to secure a bronze for the country in men’s singles.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by PTI / Basel – August 25th, 2019

A doctor like no one


Gynaecologist M. Vijaya Lakshmi distributing medicine to a patient at a medical camp in Karimnagar. 

Vijaya Lakshmi treats patients free of cost every day between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

At a time when her peers did not feel it wise to work in rural areas, she moved to Karimnagar and opened Sanjeevani Hospital with the help of her husband Naveen Kumar, a surgeon.

Gynaecologist M. Vijaya Lakshmi, who was born and brought up in Hyderabad, studied medicine at Osmania University in 1984 and DGO in 1988. Dr. Lakshmi, popularly known as amma here, treats patients free of cost between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. every day.

She also conducts free medical camps for pregnant women every month at all the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) under Pradhan Manthri Surakshith Matritva Abhiyaan (PMSMA).

For her services under PMSMA, District Collector Sarfarz Ahmad even felicitated her with an appreciation letter during Republic Day celebrations on January 26 this year.

She runs Sanjeevani Charitable Trust under which she conducts medical camps across the district, and she performs surgeries free of cost on some occasions when patients cannot pay for the same. Also, she provides free breakfast to the in-patients at the hospital and distributes sarees as gift to pregnant women after their delivery. Dr. Lakshmi has launched an ambitious programme called Mogga to educate adolescent girls on the important of health and hygiene by visiting government schools and colleges.

Talking to The Hindu, Dr. Lakshmi said, “I received everything from the society and it’s time for me give back and I am doing that in small ways possible. Conducting medical camps is a part of that”.

She said she was planning to intensify her campaign to educate adolescent girls and added that she was planning to install automated sanitary vending machines at government educational institutions soon.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by K. M. Dayashankar / Karimnagar – May 05th, 2019

Trial by sun


Mango pulp being processed for solar drying at Society for Energy, Environment and Development (SEED); (extreme right) Shyamala Rambhotla   | Photo Credit:  Nagara Gopal

Helmed by 94-year-old Prof Ramakrishna Rao, SEED’s zero carbon emission solar cabinet dryers may have answers to counter post-harvest losses

Professor M Ramakrishna Rao is 94. Yet, the retired scientist from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, is the tour de force of Society for Energy, Environment and Development (SEED), which he established 32 years ago. Drawing from his expertise in physics and renewable energy, he guided the research and development team to design solar cabinet dryers for food processing. Three hundred of these cabinets ensuring zero carbon emissions are being used in 19 states across India by organisations working in the agriculture sector.

Germination of SEED


Prof Ramakrishna Rao   | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

Ramakrishna Rao spends his days at the SEED office and incubation centre in Hyderabad , overseeing the operations. He ascends the stairs, one step at a time, to inspect dryers on the terrace. Age may have slowed him down but he’s always enthusiastic to discuss how solar dehydration can help minimise post-harvest losses and develop food products that can fetch farmers additional revenue.

Rao founded the organisation in 1987, after retiring from IISc, eager to use his scientific knowledge to help the farming sector. He did his Masters in physics and PhD from Osmania University, followed by post-doctoral studies in Columbus University, Ohio. SEED is a non-governmental organisation with a governing council headed by Padma Vibhushan awardee Prof Palle Ramarao; several food scientists work in honorary positions. The organisation receives partial funding from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and has 20 employees.

Helping Rao at SEED is his niece Shyamala Rambhotla, a computer science quality engineer. She returned to India in 2011, after working in a credit bureau in the US for 20 years, to help Rao with his work, and a long-term focus on strengthening the organisation.

In its first decade, SEED developed and tested dryers that used biomass and alternative fuels before zeroing in on solar cabinet dryers. Their solar cabinet dryer design was patented in 1997. The organisation reached out to those working in the agriculture sector to raise awareness about using solar power. It was a slow process. “Not many people knew about using solar power back then. We’ve seen a spurt in the last four years,” says Shyamala.

Branching Out

  • SEED has worked on 100 fruits, vegetables and other produce. Solar dehydrated mango, pineapple, chikoo, guava, fig, mango and mixed fruit are sold as rolls or fruit bars. An environmental chamber checks the shelf life of food products. Some of the products are sold at Karachi Bakery outlets. However, SEED primarily remains a non-profit, research and development outfit.
  • The centre’s library and lab is frequented by food science students for their projects. The organisation’s think tank comprises like-minded researchers and scientists. SEED also has an extension centre at Tholkata village near Moinabad.
  • Six commercial solar cabinet dryers were exported to Australia, Indonesia, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, Zanzibar and Kigoma.

Outreach initiatives

SEED has so far conducted 70 training sessions for more than 2,000 farmers, teaching them techniques of solar-drying fruits, vegetables, millets and other produce. A dedicated team develops products. On the day we visit the centre, ripe mangoes have been pulped, transferred as thin layers to trays and placed in the cabinets. A temperature gauge indicates 65° Celsius in the cabinet; another gauge monitors the weight reduction due to dehydration. It typically takes a day for the pulp to dry into a thin film; another layer of pulp is then added and left to dry. The dried pulp is then cooled, cut into segments and packaged as bars or rolls. “Traditional ‘mamidi thandra’ (aam papad) is made by drying mango pulp in open air, prone to dust. Solar cabinet drying ensures hygiene and retains nutritional value,” says Shyamala.


Fruit rolls developed by SEED   | Photo Credit:  Nagara Gopal

Other solar dryers are stocked with finely diced carrots, amla, spinach, rings of onions and tomatoes. An in-built fan removes moisture and ensures uniform dehydration. For leafy vegetables, the solar dryer is fitted with a blue filter to create greenhouse effect that helps retain chlorophyll and hence, the colour. “Dehydrated vegetables can be stored for later use. Soak it in water for 30 minutes and use for cooking just like fresh vegetables,” she says.

SEED designs dryers with loading capacities of eight, 50, 100, 200 and 500 kilograms and is working towards designing a one tonne capacity dryer for use in large firms. Elaborating on the applications, Shyamala explains, “Farmers incur losses when there’s a sudden drop in price, transportation issues or excess seasonal produce. At the mandal level, if community solar dryers are set up with government or corporate help, it will help farmers dehydrate their produce for later use and develop food products. India is big on agriculture production, but we aren’t processing enough.”

A dryer of eight kilograms capacity is priced at ₹40,000 and it goes up to ₹4,50,000 for 200 kilograms. SEED allows entrepreneurs to try the solar dryers at the incubation centre, develop their recipes and test market before purchasing. The pricing remains an issue, admit Rao and Shyamala. “If banks or the government can give subsidies, more farmers will be willing to buy,” says Shyamala. Rao points out that unlike electric dryers, solar dryers don’t have recurring costs.

Solar cabinets are efficient all through the year, barring occasional rainy days. “On such days, we use electric backup (powered by rooftop solar panels). We are working towards developing dryers that can use biogas for power backup,” sums up Shyamala.

(Planet Healers celebrates eco-conscious initiatives. If you know an eco warrior, writer in to hydmetroplus@thehindu.co.in)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad – Planet Healers / by Sangeetha Devi Dundoo / April 22nd, 2019

Mission Shakti: Dedication of Hyderabad scientists helped pull off remarkable feat

The A-SAT interceptor missile hit its target at an altitude of 300 km in a span of 3 minutes.


G Satheesh Reddy, DRDO chief |Express

Hyderabad :

‘Mission Shakti’, as it is rightly being hailed, is a remarkable achievement for the country, and a matter of pride for Hyderabad, as the project was conceived in the city.

Speaking to TNIE, chairman, DRDO and secretary to the Department of Defence R&D G Satheesh Reddy said scientists of Research Centre Imarat (RCI), along with those from Defence Research Development Labs (DRDL) and Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) — three premier DRDO labs in city — had been working on the project for the last two years. “But in the last six months, our scientists have worked day and night to achieve this on a mission mode,” the distinguished scientist added.

The A-SAT interceptor missile hit its target at an altitude of 300 km in a span of 3 minutes. “With an extremely high degree of accuracy, it can hit targets in the low earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of up to 1,000 km,” Reddy pointed out.

On the obstacles faced, Reddy said, “It was a technological challenge because, primarily, the relative velocity between the missile and target satellite was 10 km per second. It is a hit-to-kill weapon and we have worked very hard to achieve an accuracy of centimetres.” Though the accuracy in centimetres is yet to be calculated, he said it could be around five-to-six cm.

The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sensors, according to DRDO has confirmed that the mission met all its objectives.“There are no warheads. Accuracy has to be very high. You need to develop a lot of mechanism like ‘divert thrusters’ which gives the manoeuvrability to the vehicle.

The algorithms have to be very precise and accurate for various environments. You need to hit with high accuracy. The BMD(ballistic missile defence) programme technology has been used,” said Reddy.


While India now has joined the elite club of USA, Russia and China, what is next for DRDO? “We have mastered the technology which can give an accuracy of centimetres. We have to plan (future course of action) and work it out,” he said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Rahul V. Pisharody / by Express News Service / March 28th, 2019

All-women crew in Air India flights today

To mark International Women’s Day

AI525 from Hyderabad to Bhubaneshwar and back would be flown by an all-women crew on March 8 (Friday) operated by Captain Sapna Patel and First Officer Prajakta Chougule with cabin crew Manisha, S.L. Sunita, Prachi and Durge. This is one of the 40 domestic and short-haul flights to be operated by 12 all-women crew across the country to mark the International Women’s Day.

Women cockpit and cabin crew of Air India would operate both wide and narrow body aircraft to all corners of the world and across the nation as a mark of respect for women in India, a press release said.

For most of these flights, technical services would be provided by women aircraft engineers, technicians and flight dispatchers, while women duty managers, counter staff, helpers and doctors would work for most of these flights. “It’s a moment of pride and honour for Air Indians that our women employees are leaving their mark in the aviation sector on a global scale,” said Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani.

Air India would be deploying its B787 Dreamliners and B777s to be operated by women pilots and attended by women cabin crew in the sectors: Delhi- Sydney, Mumbai- London, Delhi-Rome, Delhi- London, Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai, Delhi-Paris, Mumbai-Newark, Mumbai-New York, Delhi-New York, Delhi-Washington, Delhi-Chicago and Delhi-San Francisco, the release added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 08th, 2019

When courage is your middle name


Women Blue Colts team ready to roll at Karimnagar Commissionerate of Police on Friday

Karimnagar becomes the only district in TS to have all-women patrolling and QRT teams

District Judge Anupama Chakravarthy, Collector Sarfaraz Ahmad, Commissioner of Police V.B. Kamalasan Reddy and others flagged off all-women patrolling teams at Police Parade Grounds to mark International Women’s Day here on Friday.

With this, the Karimnagar Commissionerate of Police gained the distinction of being the only district in Telangana to have women personnel in all its teams – women commandos, patrolling teams, Blue Colts teams and women quick reaction team (QRT) on par with their male counterparts.

The women police personnel have been trained in driving cars and mini-buses to carry women QRT to a crime scene. About 43 women constables, who were trained in Israeli self-defence technology of Krav Maga for a month, have been deployed in QRT and mobile patrolling teams.

Women would patrol the streets of Karimnagar in two shifts, while women Blue Colts teams would tour the town and visit places where there is high incidence of crime.

On Friday, the women QRT was pressed into service and they conducted surprise inspection of the RTC bus complex.

Appreciating the women police personnel for their courage in joining the forces, Ms. Chakravarthy called upon all women to be strong both physically and mentally.

The Collector lauded the Karimnagar Commissionerate of Police for according top priority to women’s safety in the district.

Mr. Ahmad also appreciated the district police for making women police as commandos by imparting special training to them.

The Commissioner of Police said there should be a change in the attitude of the society towards women. Stating that they would excel in all fields if given an opportunity, Mr. Kamalasan Reddy said they identified talent in the women police force and imparted commando training to them to tackle any situation.

He said the women police force in the district would be discharging all duties on par with their male counterparts. The Commissioner said that the constitution of SHE Teams had reduced crimes against women in the district.

Assistant Collector Pravinya, ACP Usha Rani, and other women officers took part in International Women’s Day celebrations.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Karimnagar – March 08th, 2019

Hyderabad firm gets big boost

The startup is currently incubated at Hyderabad-based incubator T-Hub and it was previously part of the Zone Startups India accelerator.

Hyderabad :

Donatekart, the Hyderabad-based online charity platform, has raised Rs 2.55 crore in seed funding from a bunch of investors led by early-stage investment firm LetsVenture. The company, which moved from Mumbai to the city a few months ago and has set up shot at T-Hub said in a statement that it plans to use the proceeds to strengthen its technology functions, scale its team and launch new products. It also plans to expand to other geographies such as the US and UK and raise at least `100 crore in donations in the next three years, the statement added.

Incidentally, the firm was featured in EdEx 40 under 40 list last year at an event held in Hyderabad. Donatekart was founded in 2016 by National Institute of Technology-Nagpur graduates Anil Kumar Reddy and Sandeep Sharma. Donors can ‘buy’ products such as flood relief material on the platform which are then sent to social organisations for distribution. The platform gives donors updates about how the products they have purchased are being used.

“Most Indians are keen to do charity, but they are comfortable if they can do it in  a hassle-free manner and can keep track of their donation,” said Anil Kumar Reddy, co-founder and chief executive officer of Donatekart. Since the platform was launched, Donatekart claims to have assisted more than 450 non-governmental organisations all over India in procuring products worth `5 crore from more than 35,000 donors.

The startup is currently incubated at Hyderabad-based incubator T-Hub and it was previously part of the Zone Startups India accelerator.

LetsVenture founder Shanti Mohan has now joined the board of Donatekart. Established in 2013, LetsVenture is an online platform that connects Indian startups with seed and angel investors.Owned and operated by Bengaluru-based IndiePitch Solutions, LetsVenture claims to have enabled more than 180 funding rounds with a total of about $70 million being raised so far.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / March 07th, 2019

Four ULBs in Telangana to get Swachh Bharat awards

Four Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) Siddipet, Sircilla, Boduppal and Peerzadiguda of Telangana have bagged Swachh Survekshan-2019 Awards in different categories.

Hyderabad : 

Four Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) – Siddipet, Sircilla, Boduppal and Peerzadiguda of Telangana have bagged Swachh Survekshan-2019 Awards in different categories. These awards will be presented by President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri at the Swachh Survekshan-2019 award ceremony scheduled on March 6 at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. The results, as well as the ranking of cities, will be formally declared soon.

Joint Secretary and Mission Director of Swachh Bharat Mission, VK Jindal sent a message to MAUD Principal Secretary, Arvind Kumar about the awards to two cities, namely Siddipet and Sircilla, and SS 2019 Citation awards to Boduppal and Peerzadiguda. Last time, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was selected for the Best State Capital in “Solid Waste Management’ under the Swacch Survekshan category. 

The city ranking survey under Swachh Survekshan-2019 was taken up during the first week of January and concluded on January 31. It evoked a good response from the citizens of 4,237 ULBs. Feedback was received from 64 lakh citizens. A total of 70 awards will be presented. Of them, 42 awards will be given to cities with over one lakh population. States will be awarded in categories such as solid waste management and sanitation. 

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by S Bachan Jeet Singh / Express News Service / February 27th, 2019