The award recognises pioneering projects that aim to make cities more liveable, sustainable and economically viable by honouring best practices and models, said a release on Friday.
Hyderabad :
The Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana limited (TSSPDCL) has bagged the prestigious ‘Smart Cities India Award’ for solar rooftops under the category of ‘ Clean & Green City’ at the 5th Smart Cities India 2019 held in New Delhi, for achievements in adoption, promotion & integration of renewable energy under distributed generation model. G Raghuma Reddy, chairman & MD of TSSPDCL received the award.
Smart Cities India Awards is an annual event designed to felicitate, recognise and encourage individuals, policymakers, companies, government bodies and associations working behind the successful execution of the huge dream of developing 100 smart cities & rejuvenation of 500 cities in India.
The award recognises pioneering projects that aim to make cities more liveable, sustainable and economically viable by honouring best practices and models, said a release on Friday.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / May 25th, 2019
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
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
For developing an app on delivering updates on construction progress
A team from Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, has won the Smart India Hackathon-2019 for coming up with a solution to a problem on steel construction.
The team christened SNAAPP comprising six M.Tech students – Siddharth Gupta, Prabhat Kumar Rai, Nisha Akole, Ajay Hase, Prasad Gaikwad and Aman Agarwal – did non-stop coding for 36 hours and delivered the mobile application as part of their proposed solution.
Their problem statement was to develop a mobile application that can manage the hierarchical system of updating construction site progress and generate reports directly via the app to managers and higher authorities.
Speaking on the victory, Abhinav Kumar, the mentor of SNAAPP and assistant professor at Department of Electrical Engineering, said, “SNAAPP delivered an innovative solution to the problem of updates on construction site progress”.
The application is developed for Android mobile phones for now.
Siddharth Gupta, team leader of SNAAPP, said, “Each one of us worked hard for the successful completion of the idea and to deliver the prototype within the time limit. We are planning to work with the Ministry of Human Resource Development for further extension of the project and produce it as a commercial product for construction industries.”
As the application sends updates directly from the authorities who are working on the field, this would reduce the time gap in information-sharing between site engineers and managers.
It would also help in optimising the cost incurred compared to the expected cost.
The application can assign tasks to site engineers and get feedback/alerts from them.
It would help in maintaining the project time-line as it would show details on the project delay.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 22nd, 2019
‘The institute has made a big difference to the area through its research and by introducing about 100 tecnologies’
“It is the only lab of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in north east at Jorhat in Assam that is involved in multifarious scientific activities. I feel proud to be heading an institute that is soon to celebrate its diamond jubilee,” said G. Narahari Sastry, the newly appointed director of North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST).
Dr. Sastry, 53, who was with CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) since 2002 heading the Centre for molecular modelling, has just taken over and was here for a conference when he told The Hindu about his new ‘institute of eminence’ and the direction he intends to take it forward.
North East is blessed with abundance of natural resources like varied flora and fauna, minerals, natural gas, petroleum, aromatic and medicinal plants and hence, NEIST is targeted to undertake research in those areas. “The institute has been dealing with chemicals, agro-technology, geotechnical and other studies spread on a sprawling campus of 400 acres. It already has an excellent record and has made a big difference to the area through its research and by introducing about 100 technologies,” he said.
Dr. Sastry said emphasis will be on fundamental and translational research of applying basic biology and clinical trials to address critical societal health needs through drug discovery, environment care and sustainable development.
With a PG degree in chemistry from Osmania University and Ph.D from University of Hyderabad, he moved to ‘bio-informatics’ during his teaching stint with Puducherry university. His research is on employing artificial intelligence and machine learning to integrate with bioinformatics in developing disease-specific web portals and delineating disease biology in the area of healthcare.
“Seventy per cent of my research work deals with biology combining computational mathematics and AI. The government’s directive now is while excellence is good, science should be relevant to the people and improve their quality of living,” says Dr. Sastry.
A Shanthi Swarup Bhatnagar Award winner in chemical sciences in 2011, he has been a visiting professor for universities in Japan, Germany and United States.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by V. Geetanath / Hyderabad – March 04th, 2019
Social Innovation Award being presented to Adero Labs as part of Start-Up Stage event at BioAsia.
Five start-ups with innovative offerings for the healthcare sector, including a device that reminds patients to take a correct dose of medicine at the right time and another that monitors a patient’s health while he/she is asleep, walked away with top honours at the BioAsia-2019.
They made it to the top five, and received a cash prize of ₹25,000 each at the Start-Up Stage event, one the highlight segments of this year’s BioAsia. A total of 76 start-ups had showcased their wares at the three-day event, the curtain on which came down on Wednesday.
Making a brief pitch at the valedictory, Caredose co-founder and CEO Kinshuk Kocher said the start-up has devised a solution – a dispenser in which medicines are filled using a robot – for patients, especially senior citizens, to ensure that they are taken on time and in the correct dose. The entire process is completely automated, he said.
Interestingly, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, during the inauguration of BioAsia on Monday evening, had highlighted the need to address the issues that senior citizens faceamong other aspects.
Another solution that caught the eye of the jury was the contactless health monitor developed by Dozee. COO of the start-up Pritish Gupta said the monitor, placed below the mattress, tracks the sleep patterns, heart, respiration and stress levels helping the user address the conditions.
Spectral Insights for its compact scanner; Ekistics Solutions that offers replacement and reconstruction of damaged and diseased valves avoiding artificial prostheses; and fluorescent dye company Azooka Life Sciences for its nucleic acid stains that facilitates DNA-based diagnostics were the other three prize winning start-ups.
A special Social Innovation Award was presented to Adero Labs that works in the field of citizen safety and women empowerment.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – February 27th, 2019
Paddy filling machines, if successful, to be installed at all procurement centres
A class VIII boy’s ingenious invention is set to be adopted by the Civil Supplies Department at its Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs) on a pilot basis.
A prototype of a paddy filling machine, used to fill paddy into bags, would be adopted with minor tweaks and installed at select PPCs. If successful, they would be installed at all the centres across the State, Civil Supplies Commissioner Akun Sabharwal said in a statement here on Saturday.
Abhishek, studying in Zilla Parishad High School at Hanumajipet village in Vemulawada mandal of Rajanna-Sircilla district, has already received accolades and prizes for his invention at Inspire Science Exhibition at regional and national levels.
On Saturday, he met Mr. Sabharwal along with his parents Rajavva and Lakshmi Rajyam, and his school principal, and received a gift of ₹10,000 and a robot doll from the Commissioner.
Mr. Sabharwal said the machine, with a few changes, would be very useful for farmers. The machine’s capacity could be increased from 20 kilograms to 40-45 kg by increasing its width, he said. If successful, the machine would replace four workers.
Naming it Vari Abhishekam, Mr. Sabharwal directed the officials concerned to initiate the process of obtaining patent for the machine on behalf of the Telangana government. In another major initiative, the Civil Supplies Department would introduce e-weighing machines at warehouses with the capacity of five tonnes, starting from the coming rabi season. The department is aiming to implement the same State-wide starting from the next khariff.
The e-weighing machines would be installed at 170 warehouses across the State, to ensure that the commodities are supplied to fair price shop dealers with correct weight. Inspecting the performance of the machines at Met Weigh India Factory at Cherlapalli on Saturday, Mr. Sabharwal said the machines would be available at all the godowns by March 31.
The machines would be linked to the Command Control Centre at Civil Supplies Bhavan and also to the Mini Command Control Centres in the districts, where live weighing can be viewed.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – February 23rd, 2019
Following the success of the India Rwanda Innovation Growth program started in 2017, the FICCI Association launched a similar programme with the Ethiopian Government this summit.
Hyderabad :
Launching the India-Ethiopia Innovation, Technology Transfer & Commercialization Programme along with the Ethiopian government, the Global Research and Development Summit 2019 commenced in Hyderabad on Thursday.
The two-day conclave inaugurated by Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DS & T, Government of India, focussed upon strengthening technology and development ties between India and Africa.
Following the success of the India Rwanda Innovation Growth program started in 2017, the FICCI Association launched a similar programme with the Ethiopian Government this summit. Dr.-Ing. Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Science & Technology, Govt. of the Republic of Ethiopia talked about the several benefits of the scheme including more job opportunities for the people and help Ethiopia move from an agriculture-based to a knowledge-based ecosystem.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / February 22nd, 2019
(Left) Research scholars Kruthi Doriya and Anup Ashok with chemical engineering associate professor Devarai Santhosh Kumar (centre) at Industrial Bioprocess and Bio-Prospecting lab at IIT-H; (above) civil engineering associate professor Asif Qureshi.
IIT-H team finds Antarctic fungi that may help treat Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) working with scientists from National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, have isolated Antarctic fungi that contain ‘L-Asparaginase’, an enzyme-based chemotherapeutic agent used to treat Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).
Fewer side-effects
ALL is the most common type of childhood cancer and isolation of L-Asparaginase’ containing fungi from extreme environments could lead to development of new chemotherapeutic treatment methods that have fewer side-effects than the existing methods.
In ALL, the bone marrow produces an excess of immature lymphocytes, a form of white blood cells.
One of the most frequently used chemotherapy drugs to treat ALL is the enzyme ‘L- Asparaginase’ which reduces the supply of asparagine, an amino acid that is essential for the synthesis of protein, to cancer cells. This prevents the growth and proliferation of the malignant cells.
The path-breaking work has recently been published in Nature’s Open Source Journal, Scientific Reports (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-38094-1). IIT-H team consisted of Devarai Santhosh Kumar, associate professor, department of chemical engineering, and Asif Qureshi, associate professor, department of civil engineering, along with their research students Anup Ashok, Kruthi Doriya and Jyothi Vithal Rao while NCPOR team included Dr. Anoop Kumar Tiwari.
Drug costs
Principal investigator Dr. Santhosh Kumar said, “Extensive purification steps are necessary before L-Asparaginase derived from E. Coli and E. Chrysanthemi is used as a drug to treat ALL. This increases cost of the drug.”
‘L-Asparaginase’ enzyme used for chemotherapy is currently derived from commonly found bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Erwinia chrysanthemi. These enzymes are always associated with two other enzymes, glutaminase and urease, both of which cause adverse side effects in patients such as pancreatitis, hemostasis abnormalities, central nervous system dysfunction and immunological reactions.
The research team looked at psychrophiles as alternate sources of the enzyme. Psychrophiles are organisms capable of growth and reproduction in low temperatures in the range of −20 °C to +10 °C, such as those found in Antarctic regions.
These organisms have modified life processes that help them adapt to the extreme conditions of living. For example, psychrophiles have ‘anti-freeze’ enzymes that are powerful enough to be able to work at the freezing temperatures of the poles, unlike mesophiles that live in more habitable zones of the earth. The potency of the enzymes makes them promising as powerful drugs for diseases such as cancer, he said.
55 samples collected
Industrial bioprocess and bioprospecting laboratory research team, seeking alternate sources of L-Asparaginase, screened and isolated fungi collected from the soil and mosses in Schirmacher Hills, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. These fungi were found to have L-Asparaginase free of glutaminase and urease. The team isolated 55 samples of fungi, of which 30 isolates had pure L-Asparaginase.
Absence of glutaminase and urease would prevent the serious side-effects currently seen with the use of bacteria-derived L-Asparaginase. “Fungal species have the ability to mimic the properties of human cells, as both are eukaryotic in nature, which makes it easier for their usage in treatment of ALL,” the researchers wrote in their Nature Scientific Reports paper.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities > Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – February 20th, 2019
Safran to make parts for LEAP turbofan engine with €36 million investment
French aerospace major Safran on Tuesday said it will set up a plant in Hyderabad to make parts for CFM International’s LEAP turbofan engine with an investment of €36 million.
Construction on the facility will begin in June. The target is to produce the first batch of parts by early 2020. By end of this year, operations at the plant will be launched with about 50 employees while over time, the headcount will be 300.
Near airport
The 13,000-square metre plant, to be built at the Special Economic Zone of GMR near the airport, will include 8,000 square metres of workshops. When the plant hits cruise speed in 2023, it will be able to deliver 15,000 parts per year. CFM International is set to deliver 1,800 engines this year, a number expected to increase to 2,000 next year.
With more than 17,000 orders and commitments till date, LEAP is the fastest selling engine. The new-generation LEAP entered service in 2016 and has passed the mark of three million flight-hours. It powers over 700 Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX commercial airliners, including 54 operated by Indian airlines, said an official release.
Expressing happiness at Safran selecting Hyderabad to establish the plant, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the company joins the league of other global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) which are already manufacturing and exporting from Telangana.
Aerospace, he added, is a focus industrial sector for Telangana and the State government is providing maximum support to encourage the industry.
In the release, Safran CEO Philippe Petitcolin, who is on a visit to India for the Aero India Show, said, “Aerospace continues to be a significant driver of India’s growth and we want to fully support this dynamic by bolstering our investments and training programmes in the country.”
Safran, which has been in India for around 65 years, has, at present, over 600 employees at seven companies that provide design, production and support services for aerospace and defense, plus a maintenance training centre in Hyderabad for CFM engines. The centre, which was established in 2010, can train more than 500 technicians a year.
‘Very excited’
Former Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao tweeted: “Very excited to welcome Safran’s new investment in Telangana.”
The French multinational had, in 2018, announced the setting up of a Safran Electrical and Power factory to produce LEAP engines harnesses and Rafale fighter electrical wiring interconnections systems in Hyderabad. The 4,000-square metre facility, also at the SEZ, will be ready by mid-2019 and employ 250 people. The operations have begun in a temporary building with 33 employees.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – February 20th, 2019
