Mini Ipe takes charge of Corporation’s South Central Zone
Mini Ipe took charge as zonal manager of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), South Central Zone, on Wednesday.
She is the first woman zonal manager (in-charge) of the corporation, a press release said. LIC’s South Central Zone comprises the States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Prior to the present assignment, she was executive director (International Operations) looking after the foreign operations of LIC’s subsidiaries, joint ventures and branches. She has also worked as director and CEO of LICHFL Financial Services Ltd. and was instrumental in taking the company to new heights in business revenue and profits, the release said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – April 25th, 2019
A village zone reflecting Telangana Rural life is created with children’s play area with amusement rides, food courts, etc.
HMRL MD NVS Reddy and Shikha Goel, Additional Commissioner of Police, at the inaugural ‘Taruni Fair‘ held at Taruni Madhura Nagar Metro Station in Hyderabad on Saturday | Express
Hyderabad :
An exclusive women’s exhibition called ‘Taruni Fair’ was opened at Taruni Madhura Nagar Metro Station on Saturday. The exhibition, with as many as 150 stalls, will be open for the next two months, everyday between 5.30 pm and 10.30 pm. Entry is free.
HMRL Managing Director, NVS Reddy, Director of Municipal Administration, Telangana, T K Sreedevi, GHMC Zonal Commissioner of Serlingampally zone, D Harichandana, Additional Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad city, Shika Goel, Managing Director of Fernandez Group of Hospitals, Evita Fernandez, Foundation for Futuristic Cities, Karuna Gopal, Granules India, Cofounder, Uma Chigurupati and others were present.
A village zone reflecting Telangana Rural life is created with children’s play area with amusement rides, food courts, etc. HMRL looks at the Hyderabad Metro project not as a simple transportation engineering project but as an instrument to promote many wider socio-economic goals. As a part of this vision, Taruni Madhuranagar metro station along with the two-acre open area around the station is being made a hub of activities to promote women empowerment and gender equality, NVS Reddy said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home>Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / April 21st, 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
While the station is open for all passengers irrespective of gender, it will be managed by women employees and will soon have shops exclusively catering to the needs of women and children.
Image of a HMRL station used for representational purpose only (File Photo | EPS)
Hyderabad :
For the first time in the country, and perhaps in the world, Hyderabad Metro Rail has set up an all-women station catering to the needs of women. Madhuranagar Metro Station of Corridor – III (Blue Line) has been renamed ‘Taruni Madhuranagar’ metro station. While the station is open for all passengers irrespective of gender, it will be managed by women employees and will soon have shops exclusively catering to the needs of women and children.
HMRL looks at the Hyderabad Metro not as a simple transportation engineering project but as an instrument to promote wider socio-economic goals. As a part of this vision, Taruni Madhuranagar metro station along with two-acre open area around the station is being made a hub of activities to promote women empowerment and gender equality, HMRL Managing Director, NVS Reddy said. A women-centric exhibition will be held for the next 60 days at Taruni Madhuranagar which will open soon, he added.
There will be an online slogan competition on women empowerment and gender equality, wherein slogans can be submitted online on HMRL’s website — https://hmrl.co.in. Competitions for children will be held in painting, drawing, essays, elocution, music, etc. Competitions in Rangoli, cooking, performing arts, etc would be held for women.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / April 06th, 2019
The woman, the machine, the kick. The pride is nothing without responsibility and safety, says Thunderbird Storm rider Sunita Simon
It was love at first sight. Roughly two years ago, Sunitha Simon’s eyes fell on the Triumph Thunderbird Storm when she accompanied her friend to a high-end two-wheeler showroom.
Completely besotted, Sunitha couldn’t get the 350 kg, 1700cc twin cylinder beast out of her mind. “I can cycle, but on bikes, I’ve always been a pillion rider. I had never considered riding a two-wheeler until I saw it that day,” Sunitha recalls with a smile. She kept dreaming of owning it.
Owning it wasn’t simple. First, she had to learn to ride a two-wheeler. Since neither of her parents rode a two-wheeler, she got her driver to teach her on his Hero Honda.
After 20 days of daily lessons and practice, she was “confident about riding the vehicle on which I was learning. I took another couple of days to ride it on my own around my neighbourhood.” All this preparation was just enable her to ride the Thunderbird Storm.
Even when she brought the bike home, her mother had to persuaded to let Sunitha ride it; she took her own time to agree. “My bike might weigh 350 kg on the stand, but when I am riding it, it feels nimble. To me, riding the bike is all about challenging my limits. I’ve always done and wanted to do what is unconventional. So when I wanted to pick the beast, my dad was not surprised. Besides, probably no other girl in India rides the Thunderbird Storm in India as far as I know, so that makes me proud of myself,” says Sunitha.
Sunitha is among the handful of owners and riders of this classic British engineering beauty. She still considers herself a baby-rider and is learning to ride like a pro with a small group of riders.
On Women’s Day, Triumph India featured Sunitha on their Facebook homepage as one of the few Thunderbird Storm riders in India. As a proud owner of the beast, she didn’t modify the bike at all and wants to ride it the way it should be; “The thundering sound is its ultimate ornament,” she says.
Riding may give Sunitha immense confidence, but at the same time she’s not big on speed. “I prefer relaxed rides. My bike rides help me meet my other two passions — travel and food. However, when on a ride one has to be careful of what they eat. I learnt it the hard way. On one my rides, I couldn’t resist the lassi I saw at a dhaba. After a glassful, I couldn’t continue the ride as I felt sleepy. I was forced to stop and that held back the other riders. Thankfully, when we go on rides, it is all about taking care of each other’s back,” adds Sunitha.
A marketing professional with a leading telecom brand, Sunitha is a handloom sari-clad young girl at work. She says her newest passion i.e., riding has extended her wardrobe. “From shoes to the helmet, riders need their gear. The gear is as important as knowing how to control a vehicle. I wear a L52 helmet, boots and jacket by Triumph, Scott’s gloves and knee guard. Sadly most of the stuff isn’t made for women. So getting a jacket for my size was a big task, Finally I settled for jacket that is a size bigger because there is no way I would ride without my gear. It’s safety and responsibility over style,” assures Sunitha.
She is thrilled to bits that one brand has come out with gloves for women, “with a pink band around the knuckles,” she chuckles.
Having done three long rides that includes a trip to Araku, Tippeshwar and Bengaluru, Sunitha is looking forward to more rides. “These rides are helping me discover places. I love being independent, so going with a big group doesn’t serve my purpose. I ride with a small group of like-minded peopleto plan and ride better,” she adds.
What’s next? “I want to learn to go off-roading for which I want a bike with better ground clearance, so that is definitely playing on my mind now.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad > Motorycylce Diaries / by Prabalika M . Borah / March 28th, 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
Telangana emerging as seed bowl of the country with about 400 seed companies based in the State
The Telangana government has requested the officials of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture to extend technological support in establishing the seed park at Banda Mylaram in 150 acres.
The request was made to a delegation of the German Federal Ministry including officials of the Indo-German (seed) Cooperation Project visiting the State. Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy, Principal Secretary C. Parthasarathi, Commissioner Rahul Bojja, Director of Marketing G. Lakshmi Bai, and Director of Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Authority K. Keshavulu had a meeting with the visiting delegation.
A bilateral agreement was also signed by Telangana and German Federal Ministry for the development of seed sector in the State. Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Niranjan Reddy said Telangana was emerging as the seed bowl of the country with about 400 seed companies based in the State and doing a business to the tune of ₹ 5,000 crore with the help of 1.5 lakh skilled labour in seed production.
Giving a powerpoint presentation to the visiting delegation, Mr. Parthasarathi said high quality hybrid seed of paddy, jowar and maize was being produced in the State and even the seed produced in other States was being processed and stored here due to the most conducive conditions. The Indo-German seed project was also extended for three more years recently, he noted.
Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture Michael Stubgen said there was huge scope for food processing sector too in Telangana and they were ready to cooperate in that area too. He invited the Agriculture Minister to visit Germany for studying the agriculture sector there.
Director of TSSOCA Mr. Keshavulu asked the German delegates to attend the International Seed Testing Association congress being organised here in June-July this year. President of National Seed Association of India M. Prabhakar Rao and others participated.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities > Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 26th, 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
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
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
