Monthly Archives: January 2015

Gubba Group launches Germplasm Bank

First such bank in the private sector to help preserve seeds

A Germplasm Bank for use by seed companies, farmers, scientists and research institutions is the latest business venture of Gubba, a Hyderabad-based Group specialising in cold storage services.

Announcing the launch of the bank established with an investment outlay of Rs. 4 crore, senior members of the management team led by the Group CEO, Gubba Kiran, on Wednesday said it was the first such facility in the private sector in India. It has two vaults that together offer 107 lockers in which Germplasm will be stored for five to 40 years under minus 20 degree Celsius. Explaining the process, Gubba Prashanth, Research and Technical Head, said on receiving the Germplasm seeds, it is sent to the laboratory to record the details and create a database. This is followed by x-ray analysis, cold drying, packing and preservation. The stored material will be subjected to quality checks periodically.

In tune with its role of custodian of the seeds, for which it will charge monthly rentals in the Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 25,000 band per locker, the company, he said, assures high levels of confidentiality of the database. Unless permitted by the customer, the information would not be shared, he added. A few lockers will be provided free of cost to individuals and NGOs working in the area of seed preservation. The facility over time is expected to generate and provide new scientific knowledge and information on ecosystems, species and genes.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent/ Hyderabad – January 29th, 2015

Antique cannon recovered

The city police recovered a 17th century antique cannon at an under construction site at Nayapool on Wednesday. The contractor, Lateef, found the cannon while digging for laying pillars.

“The State Archaeological department officials told us that the cannon might have been used during the siege of Golconda Fort by the forces of Aurangzeb. They surmise that it is one of the most advanced cannons of that period,” Inspector Task Force (East) team, Ch Sridhar said.

The cannon is 6.5 ft long with a diameter of 4 inches and weighs 800 kg.

Animal oil

extraction unit

The Commissioner’s Task Force (East) team on Thursday raided a godown at Chaderghat where oil was being extracted from animal fat illegally.

The police seized 24 barrels of oil, 50 kg of body parts of animals and a DCM vehicle.

Additional Deputy Commissioner, Task Force, N. Koti Reddy, said that the owner of the unit, Salar Qureshi, 62, procured organs of cattle and converted it into fat in big cauldrons. He claimed that the produce was supplied to soap manufacturing units in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Two persons held

Two persons who allegedly bought 1.5 kg of gold from a gang of chain snatchers were arrested by the West Zone police on Thursday.

The accused persons, Mohd Irfan of Bandlaguda and Shyam Sunder Sugand of Gulzar Houz, procured gold chains from a gang of chain snatchers, who were arrested by the police in December.

The gang members, including Lamba Hussain, Mirza Azmath Ali and Mohd Akheeluddin, were involved in 230 chain snatching cases reported in the city.

VRO arrested

Anti-Corruption Bureau officials on Thursday arrested Yakapur Shivakumar, Village Revenue Officer of Rompally in Bantwaram mandal of Ranga Reddy district on charge of accepting Rs. 3,000 bribe from a person. The VRO received the sum from a villager to change names in revenue records, according to a press release.

He will be presented before a local court.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – January 30th, 2015

Awards Given Away to RTC Bus Drivers for Saving Fuel

Transport minister P Mahender Reddy presenting the first best KMPL award to Khammam depot driver Ch Papi Reddy at RTC Kala Bhavan in Hyderabad on Wednesday | EXPRESS Photo
Transport minister P Mahender Reddy presenting the first best KMPL award to Khammam depot driver Ch Papi Reddy at RTC Kala Bhavan in Hyderabad on Wednesday | EXPRESS Photo

Hyderabad :

‘’We will carve Telangana State Road Transport Corporation in such a way that its model will be followed by the rest of the transport departments in the country,’’ transport minister P Mahender Reddy has said.

APSRTC, in collaboration with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation gave away awards to the best HSD (High Speed Diesel) KMPL drivers, Protective Journey Driving Instructors (PJDIs), Safety Driving Instructors (SDIs) and mechanics of Telangana at APSRTC Kala Bhavan here on Wednesday.

The awards were given to 97 drivers, instructors and mechanics from the state for using the fuel efficiently and maintaining a noteworthy KMPL. The highest KMPL of 7.92 this year was recorded by Ch Appi Reddy of Khammam district, who thereby saved 4,418 litres of HSD.

Speaking on the occasion, the transport minister urged all the drivers to try their best to conserve fuel. ‘’Today, we spend as much as `1,150 crore per annum on diesel alone. Hence, conserving fuel and using it carefully should be a regular practice,’’ he said. He lauded the efforts of the award winners and also encouraged the fellow drivers to be pro active in fuel conservation.

‘’To make the road transport service accessible to every nook and corner of the state, the chief minister has allotted ` 500 crore for improving roads in the districts,’’ he said.

Among those present at the event include N Sambasiva Rao, vice-chairman and managing director, APSRTC, Ramana Rao, joint managing director, TSRTC.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / January 29th, 2015

Mithali Raj, P.V. Sindhu on cloud nine

It was a Super Sunday for two of Hyderabad’s best sportspersons – Indian women’s cricket captain Mithali Raj and one of the world’s best badminton talents Pusarla Venkata Sindhu – when they were named among the list of Padma Shri awardees by the Government of India on Sunday evening.

Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj

“This is a huge surprise, and being clubbed with someone like Virat Kohli makes the announcement all the more special,” said a smiling Mithali, who is arguably the finest women’s cricketer from India.

The 32-year-old star performer pointed out that she was not really thinking about it since women’s cricket was not all that popular in India.

P.V. Sindhu
P.V. Sindhu

Nineteen-year-old Sindhu was also equally elated.

“This is a great day for my entire family, especially for my parents (Arjuna awardee P.V. Ramana and P. Vijaya – both former international volleyball players). I was not expecting this

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – January 26th, 2015

‘Kosambi broke with the past, pioneered a new methodology’

Historian Uma Chakravarti said Kosambi was a pioneer in social history at a time when the basic writing of history was either colonial or nationalistic

Eminent historian Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi made path-breaking contributions to historical analysis through his methodology, noted well-known feminist historian and civil liberties activist Uma Chakravarti.

During her talk on Kosambi’s Approach to History here on Monday, Prof. Chakravarti said Kosambi was a pioneer in social history at a time when the basic writing of history was either colonial or nationalistic. This was stated in an introduction to a Telugu translation of D.D. Kosambi’s An Introduction to the Study of Indian History by N. Venugopal.

Though emerging as an antidote to the colonial narrative, the problem with nationalist history was that it constantly evoked a “glorious past”, and its reluctance to look at caste and gender meant disengagement with the present, Prof. Chakravarti noted.

Indologists who narrowed down their tools to texts have typically left the history before 1200 AD to the realm of mythology, which offered nothing in terms of caste and gender.

In contrast, Kosambi, a mathematician by profession, was incredibly eclectic and used all tools at his disposal, including numismatics, statistical derivatives and archaeology to study ethnography, and brought out a set of questions that had not been seriously considered before 1956.

The observation that India did not need slavery thanks to its caste system and debt bondage, and that the Indus Valley could have been a static civilisation as its script remained unchanged for 800 years, were remarkable examples of his historical understanding. His study of Buddhism and State formation were brilliant, Prof. Chakravarti remarked.

“I don’t think Kosambi should be treated as God. The method he followed made him open to analysis…Nobody has adopted his methodology, but just want to follow the line he gave,” she pointed out.

She also noted that Kosambi made a gendered analysis of history in Myth and Reality , even though gender was a dimension much ignored.

I don’t think Kosambi should be treated as God. The method he followed made him open to analysis…Nobody has adopted his methodology, but just want to follow the line he gave

Prof. Uma Chakravarti

Historian

Historian Uma Chakravarti said Kosambi was a pioneer in social history at a time when the basic writing of history was either colonial or nationalistic

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – January 27th, 2015

Indian Police Medal Awarded to 10 National Police Academy Officers

National Police Academy director Aruna M Bahuguna presenting a medal to deputy director NRK Reddy in Hyderabad on Monday | EXPRESS PHOTO
National Police Academy director Aruna M Bahuguna presenting a medal to deputy director NRK Reddy in Hyderabad on Monday | EXPRESS PHOTO

Hyderabad :

Three IPS officers are among the 10 officials of the National Police Academy (NPA) who have bagged the Indian Police Medal.

NPA director Aruna M Bahuguna led the 66th Republic Day celebrations on the academy premises at Shivarampally, near here, on Monday. She unfurled the national flag and addressed the IPS trainees. She complimented the trainees for achieving high standards within a short period of five weeks.

After presenting meritorious awards to police officers, Bahuguna called upon trainee officers to be honest while discharging duties and to serve people and try to redress their problems.

She said that the Union government announced Indian Police Medal for meritorious service on the occasion of the Republic Day to NPA deputy directors Hari Kishore Kusumakar and Goduguluri Srinivasa Rao, assistant director Vipul Kumar, inspectors E Srinivasa Rao and Rajesh Kumar, sub-inspectors Penukonda Suresh Kumar, Budhinath Sharma and Kulwant Singh, head constable Challa Bhaskar Reddy, and constable Saji Kumar S.

The director also presented meritorious awards to 28 police personnel of the academy.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / January 27th, 2015

M.S. Narayana, king of laughs, is no more

NarayanaTELANGANA24jan2015

Actor and comedian M.S. Narayana, a veteran with over 750 films to his credit, passed away at a corporate hospital here on Friday morning. He was 63. He is survived by daughter Sasikiran and son Vikram.

Doctors cited multi-organ failure as the cause of death. He was initially diagnosed with malaria at a hospital in Bhimavaram and brought to a corporate hospital here about four days ago. He then complained of chest pain and was put on ventilator for the last two days. When his kidneys did not function properly he was given dialysis too. He was declared dead at 9.40 a.m. on Friday.

Born in Nidamarru near Bhimavaram in West Godavari District on April 16, 1951, Mylavarapu Surya Narayana dabbled in theatre while working as a lecturer and entered the film industry as a writer before being introduced as an actor.

Among his latest films is ‘Manam’ (2014) in which three generations of the Akkineni family acted and the last in which thespian, late Akkineni Nageswara Rao acted. Other prominent films include ‘Badshah’ with NTR in 2013, ‘Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu’ with Pawan Kalyan and ‘Julayi’ with Allu Arjun in 2012 and Mahesh Babu’s runaway success ‘Dookudu’ in 2011, in which he appeared as Bokka Venkateswara Rao.

He won Nandi awards of the AP Government as the best male comedian for the films ‘Maa Nanna ki Pelli,’ ‘Ramsakkanodu,’ ‘Sardukupodam Randi,’ ‘Sivamani’ and ‘Dookudu.’ He made his debut as a director in the film Koduku starring his son Vikram and directed another film ‘Bhajantrilu’.

Condolences pour in

Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao (Telangana) and N. Chandrababu Naidu (AP) condoled the death of Narayana, saying the film industry has lost a good actor, as did YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan, apart from actor-MP K. Chiranjeevi, actor Pawan Kalyan and several others.

There was a steady stream of visitors to the AP Film Chamber of Commerce where the body was kept to enable people to pay their last respects. Comedians, including Vennela Kishore, Srinivas Reddy and others, could not hold back their tears. The late comedian virtually lived the role of an alcoholic in several films that he was asked several times if he really came ‘drunk’ to shootings.

Comedians Ali and Babu Mohan shared their memories with Narayana on Youtube, while ‘Gabbar Singh’’ director Harish Shankar regretted that he never got to direct a great writer and comedian.” Popular comedian Brahmanandam visited Narayana while he was in hospital on Thursday itself.

“Narayana was one of the few who could carry off an entire film single-handedly, with the comedy track and be a pillar for its success,” said Mamidi Harikrishna, Director of Culture (Telangana), also an avid film buff and critic.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Suresh Krishnamoorthy / Hyderabad – January 24th, 2015

Memorial for Kaka in City: CM

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao along with Congress leaders S Jaipal Reddy, K Jana Reddy and Union labour minister B Dattatreya at a condolence meeting of G Venkataswamy at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad on Wednesday. | express photo
Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao along with Congress leaders S Jaipal Reddy, K Jana Reddy and Union labour minister B Dattatreya at a condolence meeting of G Venkataswamy at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad on Wednesday. | express photo

Hyderabad :

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has promised to construct a memorial in the name of Congress senior leader G Venkataswamy, popularly known as Kaka, in a prime location in the city.

Similarly, a Venkataswamy Square will also come up in the city, he said at the meeting organised to condole the death of the departed leader held in the city on Wednesday. Rao said the sons of Venkataswamy have also identified a couple of locations for construction of the memorial in the city.

“A decision will be taken soon and foundation will also be laid for the memorial,” Rao said. He hailed the services of Kaka for the downtrodden and also lauded the departed leader’s efforts in achieving separate Telangana.

“I did not like speaking to Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee (now President) in Delhi during the talks for alliance between the TRS and Congress in 2004 elections. It was Kaka who called me for lunch and made the alliance work,’’ Rao recalled.

Union Minister for labour Bandaru Dattatreya said Kaka, who worked as union labour minister, was responsible for initiating several welfare measures for the workers.

Leaders of various parties including Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, S Jaipal Reddy, Mothkupalli Narsimhulu and others spoke on the occasion.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / January 22nd, 2015

Waiting in the wings

A long way to go: Snehit is taking careful steps. Photo: special arrangement / The Hindu
A long way to go: Snehit is taking careful steps. Photo: special arrangement / The Hindu

Having won laurels for Telangana at national and international events, paddler Snehit looks for support.

The young, talented paddler S. Fidel R. Snehit has entered a decisive phase in pursuit of excellence and he needs support from all fronts – more so on the financial side if he is to take part in more tournaments in future and keep moving up the ladder.

This 14-year-old who critics believe to be one of the best talents to emerge from Hyderabad has already brought laurels to the newly-formed Telangana State in four international events and more importantly winning gold in team event in the sub-juniors category besides silver in the just-concluded Cadet and the Sub-junior Nationals.

“I didn’t expect to get a chance to represent the country but I got an opportunity because of national ranking (India No.3). It is a wonderful experience that I’ll cherish for long,” feels Snehit, a Std. IX student of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Public School (BVBPS) and a trainee of the Global Table Tennis Academy (GTTA).

For the record, this young champion represented India in the South Asian Cadet & Junior Championship held in Islamabad last August and was a member of the gold-medal winning team and even settled for silver in the individual category losing to his teammate Manav Thakkar. One of the high-points of Snehit’s performance was winning two bronze in the India Open in Goa last year in team and doubles events.

Not surprisingly, his coach and former State player Somnath Ghosh at the GTTA is pleased with his ward’s progress.

“I watched Snehit playing his first international tournament and found that he can make his mark on the international arena. He proved me right in the South Asian Championships with two medals,” he points out.

It was double delight for Somnath as another of his trainees Akula Sreeja also did well on the international circuit.

“Snehit played a vital role for Telangana, getting the team silver in the sub-junior Nationals in Rajahmundry. He narrowly missed a medal in the doubles and faltered in individuals,” recalls the TSTTA selection committee chairman A. Narasimha Rao.

Snehit achieved a rare first of being the Telangana No. 1 in sub-juniors, juniors and youth categories.

His commitment even when he plays in the School Games nationals is perhaps a reminder of his intense urge to keep winning. He led Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Public School to CBSE National gold (under-14) which was incidentally a first from any school from the then unified Andhra Pradesh.

“It is still a long way to go for Snehit. He needs some international training and exposure trips. We will seek support from the Telangana government to brush up Snehit’s skills under the supervision of international coaches,” feel Snehit’s parents–S. Ramu and Hema. “We will be more than happy if the State Government comes forwards to help Snehit,” sign off the optimistic parents.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / January 21st, 2015

Hyderabad Literary Festival from January 23

The Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) – 2015 to be held from January 23 to 26, will have cross-cultural workshops, which will bring together poets from Europe and India. The ‘poetry connections’ is a series of projects where poets from different countries will explore each other’s work through translations and create a multilingual poetry show.

The participants, include Miguel Manso from Portugal, Heike Fledler from Switzerland, Mamta Sagar from India besides, others. One can find more details on the website: www.hydlitfest.org.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – January 13th, 2015