Monthly Archives: November 2017

IKEA opens first Hej Home in India at Hyderabad

Business & Economy, Records, All, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

IKEA, the Swedish furnishing retailer, on Wednesday opened its first experiential centre Ikea Hej (Hello) Home close to the IT hub of Hyderabad and their upcoming first store in the country.

The Hej Home provides some insight into Ikea products and solutions which its future customers can actually buy when the store opens in India at Hyderabad early next year.

The Hej Home, designed and set up over a six-month duration, highlights what the retailer stands for and what to expect from an IKEA store.

Potential future IKEA customers can experience its products before they can actually buy it from its stores in spring 2018.

Ikea Hej Home reflects its understanding of life at home in India and its unique home furnishing solutions for homes.

It also gives a peek into IKEA’s long-standing relationship with India, its history and philanthropic activities. It showcases the IKEA food and room settings based on its learnings of Life at Home in Hyderabadi families, especially those living with children.

The display includes the bedroom, living area, kitchen and dining, play area among others. With the launch of IKEA Hej Home, the retailer is getting closer to the first IKEA India store opening.

Ulf Smedberg, Country Marketing Manager, IKEA India, said: “IKEA Hej Home launch in Hyderabad is a great opportunity to meet the many people who share our passion for home, children, family, food and most importantly our strong values of togetherness and love!”

IKEA LOYALTY PROGRAMME

At Ikea Hej Home visitors can connect sign up for its loyalty programme, through which our customers can participate in many activities even before the store opens.

Through this exposition, IKEA also looks forward to connecting with potential future coworkers, especially the women in Hyderabad. IKEA has a commitment to hire 50% women coworkers at all levels in India. As the IKEA experience cannot be complete without food, visitors can also get a glimpse of the IKEA Food and taste Swedish and Indian delicacies that will be sold in the IKEA store’s 1,000 seat restaurant, one of the largest in the world.

Ikea plans to bring Hej Home to other cities as well.

After the Hyderabad store, the second store will open in Mumbai during 2019, followed by Bengaluru and Delhi NCR.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by V. Rishi Kumar / November 22nd, 2017

CCMB-IIRR tie-up for low GI rice

Agriculture, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All
Scientists at a meeting in the city on Monday.Arrangement

New variety suitable for diabetics

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in association with the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR) has come out with an Improved Samba Masuri (ISM) which is not only resistant to bacteria blight but also has a low Glycemic Index (GI) considered suitable for those with diabetes.

National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), a constituent of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has done extensive human trials on the new variety and had come to the conclusion that ISM has low GI of 50.99 which is among the lowest value for several rice varieties tested and usually in the range of 53 to 69, explained IIRR director P. Ananda Kumar and his colleague R.M. Sundaram, CCMB’s Ramesh Sonti, Vishnupriya and others on Monday.

GI value of a food is determined by feeding 10 or more healthy people a portion of the food containing 50 grams of digestible (available) carbohydrate and then measuring the effect on their blood glucose levels over the next two hours.

Consumption of food with low GI results in slow release of glucose into the bloodstream reducing the ill-effects of diabetes.

Plus, ISM also has desirable attributes like better yield and fine grain type enhancing market potential and profit for farmers, they told a press conference.

With financial support from National Agricultural Technology Project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and CSIR800 program of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) work began in 1999 and completed in 2006, it was validated in 10 different locations for two years across the country. It was released in 2008. “We did molecular breeding in CCMB and actual traditional rice breeding at the rice research institute. Its not a transgenic plant. It is already been grown in 1.50 lakh hectares last year in seven rice breeding states including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, TS, TN, UP, etc.,” the scientists said. Farmers in several rice growing States have testified to the improved yield of up to 40% because of successful tackling of Bacteria Blight. In two/three years time, the scientists are confident of coming out with a new variety of rice which can not only give high yields but also be resistant to three different pests affecting rice crop with field trials currently on.

CCMB Director Rakesh Kumar Misra said ISM development was an excellent example of inter-institutional collaboration. Two firms have expressed interest in commercial production of the seed and scientists expect more farmers to take to it in the coming years.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 21st, 2017

A memorable Sunday for two Hyderabadis

Records, All, Sports

Paddler Fidel R. Snehit and shuttler Pullela Gayathri win nationals

Paddler Fidel R. Snehit and shuttler Pullela Gayathri, both Hyderabadis, had a memorable Sunday setting a record of sorts—the former by winning the national ranking junior boys title (the first from Telangana) and the latter winning her maiden under-19 title in her very first appearance in Chandigarh.

Fourteen-year-old Gayathri, daughter of Gopi Chand and two-time national champion P. Lakshmi, seems to have stepped into a different league.

Fresh from her recent pre-quarterfinal appearance in the Junior World Championship (under-19), unseeded Gayathri, playing her maiden under-19 domestic event, clinched it in style defeating top-seed Poorav Barve of Maharashtra in the final on Sunday.

“Clearly, her range of strokes packed with a lot of deception, and her ability to stay cool under pressure will take her a long way,” feels coach N. Anil Kumar, who has been travelling with the young champion who has already won three national-ranking under-17 titles, besides many titles in the under-13 category.

“We have been preparing really well for the under-19 group though we don’t want to push things too far. Fortunately, she is blessed with natural talent and her next big target is the junior national in Guwahati next month,” says the proud coach.

On the other hand, 17-year-old Snehit is no stranger when it comes to scripting some of the most impressive wins. Coming from a two-table Global Table Tennis Academy at Anandnagar Colony, he is one young talent clearly making waves in the table tennis circuit.

Snehit, representing Airports Authority of India, was, in a way, third time lucky when he got the better of his nemesis Manav Thakkar in the National Ranking Championship (West) in Thane on Sunday.

“Snehit did extremely well. Full marks to him for implementing the game plan with precision. It was Snehit’s day,” said former national champion S. Raman, who is training the young Hyderabadi at his High Performance Table Tennis Academy in Chennai now.

For his part, Snehit was elated and said beating Manav was special. Some of Snehit’s big feats include a gold and two silver in Jordan Open, a gold and silver in Slovenia Open and a silver in the Indian Open. Telangana State Table Tennis Association President Narasimha Reddy and Secretary Prakash Raju hailed Snehit for scripting a success story.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderababd / by V.V.Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – November 19th, 2017

City boxer ready to pack a punch

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Niharika Gonella says she is determined to translate her immense potential into a career-defining performance.

The only girl from Telangana to represent India in the World Youth Women’s Boxing Championship

She believes that her long-range punches will help her achieve big in the world of boxing. The 17-year-old Niharika Gonella, who will be the lone entry in the World Youth Women’s Boxing Championship starting this Sunday in Guwahati, will be gunning for glory in the 69-kg category.

Fresh from her silver medal in the recent International Ahmet Cormet Championship in Istanbul, Niharika happens to be the only girl from Telangana to represent India in the world championship.

In a chat with The Hindu after a long-grinding training schedule in Guwahati, Niharika says she is fully prepared for the biggest challenge of her life though gently reminding that she won a silver in the Junior World Championship last year. “Yes, Anastasia Shamonava will be a major threat for me again to whom I lost in the Istanbul meet,” she says. With Jindal sponsoring her pursuit having joined the Jindal Inspire Institute of Sports in Ballari as part of their programme Target-2020 Olympics Gold, Niharika is confidence personified. “Yes, the very fact that I have been sparring with many foreign boxers has given me a lot of confidence to be a much better boxer, improving on my defence. I hope to deliver the knock-out punches too,” says the gifted boxer.

The 2017 youth national bronze medallist, who is a big fan of Olympics champion Claressa Maria Shields of the U.S., says the atmosphere is really electric in Guwahati. On her chances in the world youth meet, Niharika says they are pretty good and is clearly determined to translate her immense potential into a career-defining performance.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V.Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – November 18th, 2017

1,500 entrepreneurs, investors selected for Global Summit

Business & Economy, Leaders, World Opinion

US President’s daughter Ivanka Trump to lead the country’s contingent

About 1,500 entrepreneurs, 300 of them being investors and ecosystem supporters, have been selected for the ensuing 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit to be co-hosted by India and the United States here, from November 28 to 30.

Participants at this year’s GES would represent four key industry sectors – energy and infrastructure, healthcare and life sciences, financial technology and digital economy, media and entertainment.

According to a press release issued by the organisers, about 300 investors and ecosystem supporters, who will form a part of the 1,500 participants, are expected to catalyse investment and networking at the summit. Adviser to the US President Ivanka Trump will lead the U.S. contingent to the summit, highlighting the theme of “Women First, Prosperity for All”, and focus on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally.

Explaining a few key facts on the 1,500 selected participants, the organisers stated that women would represent 52.5% of entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters at the GES 2017 summit. It is the first time women would be a major stakeholder at GES.

Women from 127 countries would be participating in the event with over 10 countries. Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel would be represented by all-female delegations. The participants have been selected from 150 countries and territories across the world.

The American entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem supporters come from 38 U.S. States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and the Indian entrepreneurs have been drawn from across the country.

Another interesting fact about the selected participants is that 31.5% of them are young or 30-years-old with the youngest entrepreneur aged 13 and the oldest entrepreneur 84 years age, the press release added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 18th, 2017

Mylan launches FDC drug for HIV

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology

Mylan Pharmaceuticals has launched a fixed dose combination drug in India for treatment-experienced adults and adolescents weighing more than 40 kg with HIV-1.

The product, DURART R 450, comprises Darunavir/Ritonavir 400/50mg. Alternative treatments require patients to take two drugs separately. This is the first FDC drug available to patients in India, the company said in a release on Thursday.

President (India and Emerging Markets) Rakesh Bamzai said patients with HIV-1 will now have access to the fixed-dose combination therapy which may improve the overall patient treatment outcomes. Darunavir and Ritonavir are HIV protease inhibitors and can be used in combination for patients failing first and second-line regimens during the management of HIV-1 infection. Darunavir is currently available in India in 600 mg and 800 mg dose forms and Ritonavir is available in the 100 mg and 50 mg dose forms.

The company’s ARV portfolio includes 14 APIs and 50 finished dosage forms in first-line, second-line and paediatric formulations, the release said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 16th, 2017

Pattiseema Project sets another record

Amazing Feats, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

Hyderabad :

Pattiseema project has added another feather to its hat. Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. (MEIL), which set a record in the execution of the Pattiseema project, has set another record by diverting 100 TMC of water from River Godavari to River Krishna through a lift system in 148 days.

Pattiseema project is a prestigious project of the AP government that has linked both Krishna and Godavari. The project was taken up to divert 80 TMC of water from Godavari and Krishna in 110 days. In this year, the project has diverted 100 TMC of water in 148 days. This is an increase of 20% over the intended usage of the project.

Official sources said Pattiseema is the only project in India to divert 100 TMC of water in one season. In this year, 98% of the acreage under river Krishna has been brought under cultivation.

“Normally, in any lift irrigation project, the pumps and motors are put to use only for three months or less every year. In Pattiseema project, all the 24 motors have been functional for the last 4 months. The 24 motors, one lakh twenty thousand hours, 159 TMC of diverted water,” a senior official of AP Irrigation department said.

Interestingly, the project was completed before time by the project contractor MEIL and subsequently entered into the Limca Book of Records for diverting 100 TMC of water this year from River Godavari to Krishna Delta. The works began on March 30, 2015 and completed the works by March 20, 2016.

Officials said Pattiseema is the first project in India to be completed on time without any budgetary enhancements. In spite of many challenges and setbacks, the government planned diligently and employed a workforce of 2,000 to complete the project. The first pump was made functional in 173 days (on 18th September 2015) and water was released.

According to a release, the pump house which is spread across an area of 7476 sq. m. is the largest in Asia. The project pumps 240 cusecs of water through 24 pumps. After the completion of the project, the pumps have been operational for 1.2 lakh hours till now. This means that each pump has been operational for 5000 hours without any hurdles. The pumps were successful in diverting 4 TMC of water in 93 days in the first year (2015), 55.6 TMC of water in 137 days in 2016, and 148 TMC of water till now in 2017.

Irrigation officials said this year, the farmers of Krishna Delta received water to their farmlands in the beginning of July. This has never happened in the past.

These farmers sowed their paddy crops in the months of October and November every year due to water scarcity. They incurred heavy losses when their crops were inundated during the monsoons and other calamities. After the completion of the Pattisam project, the farmers have started receiving water on time. As a result, they are reaping the benefits of a good harvest without any obstacles. The officials from irrigation and water resources department are able to ascertain the actual reason behind such abundant harvests.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News> Civic News / by Koridi Mahesh / TNN / November 16th, 2017

Hyderabad: 1,000 kgs of waste recycled to make cube-glass stools, rubber planters

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology

After the summit, the street furniture will be shifted to parks or the Necklace Road.

Trash piled up at a collection centre in Hyderabad on Monday. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad:

A tonne of trash, 85 used rubber tyres and four drums disposed of by residents in the west zone have been used to make street furniture for the Global Entrepreneur’s Summit to be held in Hyderabad from November 28.

Two tetra-pack toilets, a cube glass stool, furniture made from rubber tyres and tiles made of plastic will be displayed near HICC, the venue of the summit, from November 26. The trash was collected from the dry waste centre at Serilingampally. After the summit, the street furniture will be shifted to parks or the Necklace Road.

A sculpture made of multicoloured chips packets, polythene covers, plastic bottles, metal wires and old shoes will be placed at the entrance of HICC. The cube-glass stools, currently displayed on Madhapur street, are made of both metal angles and 8 mm toughened glass filled with scrap such as chips packets and soft drink cans.

Some 85 discarded rubber tyres were made into an all-weather sofa set that can be used both indoors and outdoors. The metal drums have been fashioned into chairs and tables.

Prashanth Lingam of Bamboo India, who has worked on these items in coordination with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, said that the scrap was provided free of cost by the GHMC which also paid for the labour.

He said 1,000 kgs of trash was recycled to make the cube-glass stools, rubber planters, rubber based sofa, and tiles made of plastic.

“We are working on a tetra pack toilet and trash man. The idea is to showcase recycling using daily used scrap and put it to functional use in public spaces as a street art form or public utility,” he said.

West Zone Municipal Commissioner Hari Chandana Dasari said, “GHMC is making efforts to promote recycling and reuse waste. The street furniture is all made from waste that people have generated. The wrappers were collected by GHMC teams and the tyres were mostly from heavy duty GHMC vehicles which will be used as planters.”

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Coreena Suares, Deccan Chronicle / November 14th, 2017

IIT Hyderabad develops novel skin patch for constant drug release

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology
Optimum “The drug gets released quickly when the pore size of the nanofabric is 100 microns,” says Mudrika Khandelwal (second from right).

The amount of drug in the patch can be modified so that it is released at desired rate

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad have developed a novel drug-delivery system that releases a commonly used pain killer (diclofenac sodium) at the target site in a controlled fashion such that there is constant release of the drug for as long as 12 hours. The drug has low half-life of one–two hours and so constant release for up to 12 hours becomes particularly significant.

In normal circumstances, the drug gets metabolised very quickly, thereby requiring frequent dosing to maintain the desired therapeutic levels. The fluctuation of the drug plasma level is one reason why the medicine cases adverse effects.

To prevent burst or quick release of the drug, a team led by Mudrika Khandelwal from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad fabricated a transdermal patch containing the drug and made the patch highly hydrophobic (water repelling). The high hydrophobicity of the patch ensures that the highly water-soluble drug is released in a slow and sustained fashion. The results were published in the journal Applied Surface Science.

Tuning the patch

What makes the transdermal patch particularly significant is the freedom to increase the amount of drug present in the patch so that the drug is constantly released at a therapeutically desirable dosage for a longer duration.

The patch was prepared by mixing the drug with cellulose acetate bio-polymer and electrospun in the form of a nanofabric. Ordinary nylon mesh with different pore sizes (50, 100 and 200 microns) was used at the site of the collector and this allowed the nanofibres to get deposited with micron-sized gaps in between.

“The non-wetting capillary action of the air pockets pushes the water away and this changes the water contact angle from about 30 degrees to 138 degrees and makes the nanofabric hydrophobic.

There is higher non- wetting capillary action of the air pockets when the air gaps are smaller in size,” says Prof. Chandra Shekhar Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad and one of the authors of the paper. “Since the drug is released through a diffusion process, the increased water repelling nature (hydrophobicity) of the fabric reduces the effective area in contact resulting in reduced diffusion rate, which also reduces the drug release.”

Constant release

“The drug, which is embedded in the transdermal patch, is released at a constant rate for up to 12 hours, when the pore size of the nanofabric is 50 microns. We achieved constant release for only three hours when the pore size was 100 microns. The drug without any micropatterning was released in just one hour,” says Dr. Khandelwal who is the corresponding author of the paper.

“We tested transdermal release using a membrane that mimics the skin. The membrane separates the drug-loaded nanofabric from a solution that in turn mimics the body fluids,” says Dr. Khandelwal. “Different drugs can be loaded in the nanofibres to achieve constant release for a long time.”

“We embedded ciprofloxacin antibiotic in the patch and achieved similar results. The transdermal patch loaded with the pain killer [diclofenac sodium] can be used for treating local muscular pain. It may not be possible to treat deep-seated pain using this patch,” says Shivakalyani Adepu from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad and the first author of the paper.

The researchers plan to develop transdermal patch prototypes and test them on animals.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Science / by R. Prasad / November 11th, 2017

On footpath, techie spreads breakfast table for hungry

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Hyderabad :

Every Sunday morning, an IT and e-commerce consultant and his wife turn into ‘good Samaritans’ for people waiting on pavements outside Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Centre near KBR Park. Vijay Kumar N, who started a small firm after spending a decade in London, does not miss a single Sunday driving down to the hospital on road number 10 in Banjara Hills for providing breakfast to the needy and poor.

About 150-200 people queue up every Sunday on the pavement outside the hospital between 7am and 7.30am for breakfast

Scores of people queue up on the pavements from 7 to 7.30am for breakfast. Vijay and his wife have been doing this for the past two years. “On a winter morning on Sunday two years ago, I had taken my daughter for a joyride from Jubilee Hills to KBR Park. I was taken aback by the plight of the people waiting outside the hospital.

Some of them were family members of patients undergoing treatment at the hospital. Most of them cannot afford food or accommodation in Banjara Hills. Many beggars also live on the pavement adjacent to the hospital,” Vijay told TOI. He still recalls the face of a young cancer patient groaning in pain on the pavement.

“I was even more shocked to see the young boy, perhaps six or seven years old, lying on the pavement with a tube inserted in his nose. I got down from my car found out that he was suffering from lung cancer. His parents were running from pillar-topost to get him admitted at the hospital.

This sight gave birth to the idea of helping these people,” he said. “My wife gave me the idea to make food and serve it to all the poor people there, including those begging for alms. That day, two years ago, she made upma and both of us went back there and fed around 10 persons,” added Vijay. Now, they feed 150-200 people every Sunday. “Feeding breakfast to the needy makes it a happy Sunday for my family. Just by feeding them breakfast, we cannot bring smiles on their faces, but it is a small effort on our part to do something for them,” Vijay said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News / Sarthak G / TNN / November 13th, 2017