Monthly Archives: April 2016

Kadaknath breed of rooster to foray into Khammam

Agriculture, Business & Economy
Seeking popularity:The Kadaknath breed of roosters at the demonstration unit of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Wyra of Khammam district.– PHOTO: G.N. RAO
Seeking popularity:The Kadaknath breed of roosters at the demonstration unit of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Wyra of Khammam district.– PHOTO: G.N. RAO

Known for its unique black colour and black meat, the rooster suits the taste and preference of health-conscious people

The unique jet black coloured rooster christened ‘Kadaknath’ – the indigenous fowl breed of tribal heartland in Madhya Pradesh – is all set to foray into the predominantly tribal-populated Khammam district if the ambitious plans of the Wyra-based Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) to popularise the low-fat and protein-rich native breed of chicken among local farmers are any indication.

The KVK has a small number of Kadaknath roosters known for their unique black colour and black meat that suits the taste and preference of health conscious people. Kadaknath breed of fowls stands out from other popular native variety of roosters at the demonstration farm of KVK by virtue of their unique jet black colour

The Kadaknath breed rooster acclaimed wide popularity in various parts of the country as a viable means of boosting income levels of rural households through backyard poultry farming.

Several farmers from various mandals in Khammam division evinced keen interest in the breed during a demonstration organised by the KVK scientists in Wyra recently.

Gauging farmers’ interest in the indigenous breed of rooster, KVK officials have drawn up plans to hold more demonstrations to highlight the benefits of rearing Kadaknath breed of fowls in terms of income and nutritional value among low-income families, particularly in tribal pockets of the district.

The breed is most suitable for backyard poultry rearing considering the low investment involved and good returns assured by it, says Hemanth Kumar, programme coordinator, KVK, Wyra.

Some farmers are rearing Kadaknath breed fowls in Sattupalli in Khammam district and a few other places elsewhere in the State, besides Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

Efforts are under way to popularise and promote backyard rearing of indigenous breed of roosters such as Kadaknath, Giriraja and Vanaraja to supplement the income of rural households and cater to the demand for eggs and meat

The protein-rich Kadaknath black meat contains low fat compared to other breeds of chicken, particularly the broiler variety.

This makes the Kadaknath breed most suitable for backward rearing to supplement income and serve nutritional needs of tribal people, he remarks, adding that farmers were being given tips on taking up backyard country chicken farming.

Inadequate availability

Inadequate availability of Kadaknath chicks and lack of proper financial support are posing major hurdles in undertaking backyard poultry farming using the most sought-after Kadaknath roosters, deplores Suresh, a tribal farmer of Venkatapuram.

The government agencies concerned should provide Kadaknath chicks free of cost and extend subsidies to exclusively promote the farm enterprise in remote tribal pockets of the district, he suggests, asserting that such a move would help check drought-induced migration in Agency areas.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by P. Sridhar / Khammam – April 14th, 2016

SCR bags laurels for best performance

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Travel

South Central Railway (SCR) has set a record of sorts by bagging All India Performance Efficiency Shields in six disciplines for the year 2015-16. General Manager-SCR Ravindra Gupta attributed the achievements to the commitment and duty-mindedness of the work force.

The six disciplines include those for comprehensive healthcare, stores, civil engineering, commercial, safety and environment management. With this, SCR made its mark at the national-level, on Indian Railways. The awards are to be presented by Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu at the Central function of the Railway Week celebrations by Indian Railways on April 16 at Bhubaneswar.

General Manager-SCR, Ravindra Gupta attributed the success to the commitment of the work force. It was their zeal that led to the SCR attaining such results, by overcoming challenges, he said, addressing a large gathering of railway officers, staff and their family members at the 61st Railway Week Zonal-level celebrations held here on Monday.

Later, Mr. Gupta gave away 164 individual awards to officers and staff, 31 Efficiency Shields to departments and divisions, seven group awards and two special awards.

The function came to an end with the General Manager’s Efficiency Shield for over all best performance going to Secunderabad Division.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – April 12th, 2016

Telangana Night in Canada on May 7

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nri's / PIO's, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

The fourth annual Telangana Night-2016 will be held by Telangana Development Forum of Canada in Toronto on May 7.

TJAC chairman M.Kodandaram will be the chief guest and Ontario Province minister Dipika Damerla of Telugu origin, the honorable guest. Artist Lohit will entertain the audience.

“In the preparatory meet held in Toronto, elderly members discussed the arrangements while the young drafted the dance and songs to be performed during the event,” a press release issued by TDF said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / April 12th, 2016

News service app Way2 hits 500 million views per month

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Hyderabad (IANS):

Short news service mobile application, Way2 has reached 500 million views per month in a short span of three months of its launch.

The achievement is a validation of the unique model and indicates the potential regional language-based news platform has in this country, Way2Online, a leading new media organisation, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Launched in December last year, Way2 offers news snippets in eight local languages, besides in English. It has seen a 300 percent growth in its daily active users in the last three months.

“News on the move is fast catching up with the young generation, who intend to stand connected with the latest happenings from around the world. Considering the lifestyle and time constraint among the users, we developed a format that is unique in nature and offers optimal information to its consumers,” said Raju Vanapala, founder and CEO of Way2.

“Available statistics indicate that every user on an average flips through 50 stories per day; and every day there are 18,000 new Application downloads,” he added.

According to available statistics, over 70 percent of the total traffic on the app comes from the local language consumers.

So far, the Way2 App has reached 6.5 million downloads while at least 650,000 visit the app every day.

Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Bangla are the eight regional languages which bring in visitors to the App.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Hyderabad / IANS / April 12th, 2016

UoH Student Bags First Rank in CSIR-NET

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All
Prasuna
Prasuna

Hyderabad :

Two days after the University of Hyderabad secured fourth place among the best educational institutions in the country, a student, B Prasuna, brought laurels to the varsity, bagging first rank in the CSIR-NET exam on Wednesday. This is not the first time 21-year-old Prasuna has passed the exam with good rankings. She had bagged the 64th rank when she first took the exam in December 2014.

One might think the young student would have immersed herself neck-deep into books preparing for the exams, but Prasuna said that she spent time engaging in discussions with mathematicians from across the country at the Annual Foundation School in Pune, rather than deciphering a mathematical problem or understanding a formula.

And this, perhaps, is the formula to score the first rank at the national level in the CSIR-NET exam. The result came as a surprise to the integrated Masters student from the UoH.
“I didn’t expect a place among the top ranks, let alone the first rank. But I surely knew that I wrote better than the last time.” She solved the paper to score 158 out of 200.

Prasuna has no secret formula for her success. “I didn’t prepare specifically for the exam.

In fact, around the same time, (December 2015), I was in Pune to attend a programme at the Annual Foundation School. It is a school where students pursuing Mathematics go for advanced training. I was busy there,” recalls Prasuna.

“Those discussions helped me the most. It was more about understanding the subject rather than practice for the exam. That is also what my professors always told me,” she added. Prasuna’s advice to those preparing for the exam is the same. “Don’t study particularly for the exam,” she opined.

Prasuna loves to read fiction, non-fiction and autobiographies. She would pursue PhD at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and hopes to become a professor.

An integrated Masters student from UoH, B Prasuna, scored all India first rank in CSIR-NET exam conducted in December-2015

She bagged 64th rank when she took the exam for the first time in December -2014

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / April 07th, 2016

Ryot Takes Organic Way, Uses Cow Urine to Increase Productivity

Agriculture, Records, All
The mango orchard of Guda Narsimha Reddy in Karimnagar. I EXPRESS PHOTO
The mango orchard of Guda Narsimha Reddy in Karimnagar. I EXPRESS PHOTO

Karimnagar :

At a time when the farming community is in dire straits over the drought conditions, here is a progressive farmer who is reaping dividends by making the most of organic farming methods.

Meet the forty-four year Guda Narsimha Reddy of Katukur village in Bheemdeverapalli mandal, whose success mantra in getting a good yield in his mango crop is simple – use cow urine, dung and organic fertilisers.

CowTELAN09apr2016

Narsimha Reddy rears Gir cows brought from Gujarat in his orchard. He collects the cow urine in a storage tank and through drip irrigation and supplies the same to the mango trees as a substitute for water. For the specific purpose of storing cow urine, he constructed a 450-liter sump at his cow shed in the mango orchard. And he uses the cow dung too for farming. He burns the dried dung cakes under the mango trees once a month to kill pests.

Setting aside traditional farming, he adopted new methods like drip irrigation, organic cultivation and pruning the trees after plucking mangoes. Since last five years, he is cultivating mango crop in 10 acres and has raised about 500 mango trees. With his systematic water management and usage of organic fertilisers, he has become an inspiration to other farmers.

Surprisingly, other farmers in the village are also having mango orchards but they are not exceeding three tonnes per acre of produce, in view of the prevailing dry spell. However, Reddy has overcome such hurdles and succeeded in raising a robust crop of Banganapalli variety and exports it to Delhi and Nagpur every year.

Speaking to Express, Narsimha Reddy said presently his crop yield is 10 tonnes per acre, and he plans to increase it to 15 tonnes. This year, he claims to have spent just Rs.1 lakh for crop cultivation, and earned returns over Rs.18 lakh.

Katukur village is an upland area with no water sources, except for borewells that have to be dug hundreds of feet. Though he had finished graduation, since childhood, he had a passion for cultivation.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Naveen Kumar Tallam / April 08th, 2016

Speaking up for women

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, World Opinion
Aparna Malladi
Aparna Malladi

Short filmmaker Aparna Malladi returns with a coming of age story in her second film ‘Anushree Experiments’

Hyderabad-based short filmmaker Aparna Malladi had written a coming of age story, shot it here and did the post production in USA. Titled The Anushree Experiments, her second theatrical release has Ulrika a female protagonist. Aparna’s first film Mitsein, (German word for ‘To Be With’) also with a female protagonist and shot in San Fransciscoreleased in 2009.

In the movie, a Hyderabadi girl Anushree, a chemical engineering student, gets bad grades and fails in her subjects. As she doesn’t have any plan, her parents want her to get married. However she wants to sabotage their plans and actually manages to graduate.

With a message

While she tries ingenious ways to break her impending marriage alliance, her father puts her in house arrest. She reads My Experiments With Truth and begins a comical Gandhian fast too. The movie sends out the message that just because a girl doesn’t have any plan and she doesn’t do well in her studies, it is not right that she be given only the option of getting married. Sometimes people need some time to find out what they really are about.

Isn’t Aparna’s first film similar to The Anushree Experiments?

A still from 'Anushree'
A still from ‘Anushree’

“Right. There it is about her journey of marriage. She cannot connect with her husband and goes on a self-discovery. That is a bit mature story. Here it is a coming of age woman. You are not a girl anymore but you haven’t become a woman yet, that is what I explored. I looked for girls here. I met Samantha, Swati as I needed a performer but finally my producer who is from Nagaland and is in London, asked me to meet a girl Ulrika Krishnamoorthy. I went all the way to London to find a girl from Somajiguda,” smiles the director. Aparna reveals the main antagonist of The Anushree Experiments is Ramakrishna who has earlier worked in the television show Ruturagalu and Bahubali movie. Anushree has a love interest and very good suitors but she is not able to relate with them. Is she confident that she will find audience?

“We got a limited release, only three theatres. I showed the film to women in colleges and told them to encourage the film as it finds their expression in the story. I just made a story and figured out a way to make it accessible to audience. It is difficult but otherwise I should find a Pawan Kalyan. Where is the place for smaller stories? Personal stories need to be told and we have to push for it. LA has a vibrant Indie space but that doesn’t kill the smaller films and there are theatres that show such independent films. I come from that culture.”

“It is about young women; if women come to see such films, men too will. Raghavendra Rao once asked me if I am into making feminist films. I am not We all have our own little stories. Actors like Savitri or Bhanumati enjoyed longevity in the industry because they could get mature roles; now girls have narrowly defined roles, they can be easily substituted. If writers are all men and portray women as seductresses, then there is little hope. But I do have hope. I need to keep my budget low, but I do find producers for my films but my condition is that my protagonist will be a woman.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Y Sunita Chowdhary / Hyderabad – April 05th, 2016

When curiosity took over him

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All
Reddy Ratnakar Reddy showing his collection of rocks and tools at his residence in Warangal onThursday.— Photo: M. Murali
Reddy Ratnakar Reddy showing his collection of rocks and tools at his residence in Warangal onThursday.— Photo: M. Murali

Reddy Ratnakar Reddy, a teacher at a private college, has travelled extensively in Warangal and collected artefacts of historical value

For many of us, a piece of rock doesn’t mean anything. But for Reddy Ratnakar Reddy, a teacher at a private B.Ed college here, it’s a source of education and research.

The 40-year-old Ratnakar Reddy, who developed interest in studying history, travelled the entire district excavating the buried past. In the process, he collected innumerable items, mostly rocks, fossils and tools, believed to have been used by pre-historic men in the course of evolution.

Mr. Ratnakar Reddy found pre-historic places and animal and tree fossils at Buttaigudem in Eturunagaram mandal, cave paintings at Vargal near Medak district, coloured rock beads, menhirs, cist, kern circles at Konne village in Bachannapet mandal in Warangal and grinding stones and grooves at Ramachandrapur village in the same mandal. A huge rock avenue was spotted by him at Kodavatur village as well.

“The habit of digging into the past, literally, is inherited from my father, Buchi Reddy, who is a curious person. Since the announcement of separate Telangana in 2009, I took interest in digging out unknown facts about Telangana, particularly the Warangal district,” he told The Hindu .

He turned his house into a minim archaeology museum with the items he collected during his tours all over the district.

Among the most enchanting findings of Mr. Ratnakar Reddy are musical stones at Chunchunkota hillocks in Cheriyal mandal. “There is a long stone with 60 capsules which was perhaps used as a musical instrument. If you hit the stone, it emits a musical note. There are petroglyphs as well,” he explained.

How does he establish the veracity and authenticity of his findings? Mr. Ratnakar Reddy has been in touch with archaeology and history experts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and surfs internet to learn more about his findings.

“There is an amazing history attached to She Stones found at Wanaparthy village in Lingala Ghanpur mandal and so also the rock cut burials there,” he said.

He wishes to write a book about his findings thus securing a page for himself in the history of Warangal.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao / Jangaon(Warangal District) / April 01st, 2016

Mahbubnagar Professor Named Fulbright Specialist Roster

Education, Nri's / PIO's, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

An Indian-American professor hailing from Mahbubnagar district in Telangana has been selected for the prestigious Fulbright Specialist Roster for his achievements in the field of pharmacy.

Rajender R Aparasu is the first pharmacy faculty member at the University of Houston selected to be the candidate roster of the Fulbright Specialist Programme, which helps US faculty share their academic expertise and develop linkages with non-US institutions on curriculum, assessment, faculty development and research training.

The Fulbright programme, which is funded by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, serves to promote international engagement of academic scholarship and build linkages between the US and overseas institutions. “There are very few Fulbright Specialists in pharmacy, I am really honoured to be selected for Fulbright Specialist Roster,” said Aparasu.

This is a great opportunity to offer my expertise in developing professional and graduate pharmacy programmes that involve pharmaceutical health outcomes and policy,” said Aparasu, whose five-year term runs through 2021.

Aparasu completed his school education in Hyderabad, and got his B Pharm degree from Kakatiya University in Warangal. He studied M Pharm at Jadavpur University in Kolkata and obtained Ph D in Pharmacy Administration from the University of Louisiana-Monroe in the USA and joined UHCOP in 2006 after serving as a faculty at the South Dakota State University for more than a decade.

His primary areas of expertise include pharmacoepidemiology, geriatrics, psychopharmacology and evidence-based medicine.

Aparasu’s current research project, supported by an R01 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is evaluating safety profiles of anticholinergic medications in the elderly nursing home residents.“Dr Aparasu’s selection as a Fulbright Specialist validates his professional accomplishments and enhances our the institutional profile. I am glad he now joins such a select group of outstanding US academicians and scholars that will soon engage in collaborative endeavours,” said Jaime Ortiz, UH vice provost for Global Strategies and Studies.

Aparasu has authored or coauthored nearly 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and seven book chapters. He was made Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association (FAPhA) for his exemplary professional achievements and contribution to the pharmacy profession.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / April 03rd, 2016

Rare copper, lead coins unearthed

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel
The copper and lead coins found during an excavation at Pazzur archaeological site in Nalgonda district on Wednesday. Photo: Singam Venkataramana / The Hindu
The copper and lead coins found during an excavation at Pazzur archaeological site in Nalgonda district on Wednesday. Photo: Singam Venkataramana / The Hindu

The coins belonged to Mahatalavara, feudal lords who ruled parts of Telangana under Satavahana

The archaeology officials excavating the early historic site located between Pazzur-Yarragaddagudem villages unearthed one copper and two lead coins probably belonging to Satavahana and post-Satavahana period.

“Mahatalavara, a feudatory family that ruled parts of Telangana under Satavahana and also during post-Satavahana period, had minted these coins, the archaeology officials said.

The archaeologists identified the coin belongs to Mahatavalaras since the two lead coins were having horse symbol on obverse side. They could not identify the symbol on other side of these coins. The copper coin was rusted and they could not identify anything on it.

Speaking to The Hindu , Assistant Director of Archaeology and Museums, P. Nagaraju said that they would send both the lead coins and copper coin for chemical treatment to further identify the symbols on them.

Conarium rod

They have also unearthed a crystal-made 0.06 cm long conarium rod, which the ancient women used for decoration of bindi on their forehead. And they have also found big size bangles made of shell.

Retired Chief Curator Yerramraju Bhanu Murthy said that they had also found similar coins at Dulikatta, Peddankuru, Kotilingala in Karimnagar district and Phangiri, Yeleshwaram in Nalgonda district.

Mr. Bhanu Murthy said that after finding these coins they came to a conclusion that Mahathalavaras also ruled Pazzur area apart from above places.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by T. Karnakar Reddy / Nalgonda – April 07th, 2016