Daily Archives: March 31, 2018

Proof of Satavahanas’ trade, cultural ties with world nations found

About Telangana, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

Fine pearls, pearls made of shell, shell-beads, and tortoise-shaped beads found

The Satavahana dynasty rulers had very good regular trade and cultural exchange programmes with all the countries in the world as was evident with the recovery of 40 fine pearls with holes and other material including metals during the excavations conducted by the State Archaeology and Museums at Peddabonkur village of Peddapalli district.

The department had launched the excavation works in a scientific manner in a sprawling 67 acres of land in the village since February 18 to unravel the history of Satavahana dynasty.

During the excavations for the first time the authorities had found the fine pearls, pearls made of shell, shell-beads, tortoise-shaped beads, gold-plated pearls, mud pearls, crystals, bangles, pottery, measurement pottery, dice made of bones, horn of deer, metal products etc.

Director of Archeology and Museums N.R. Visalakshi, who inspected the excavations on Wednesday, told newsmen that the recovery of pearls and other materials indicate that the Satavahana rulers were prosperous 2,000 years ago. The recovery of pearls and other materials show that they had trade and cultural relations with other parts of the world.

She said that they had unearthed pottery dump-yard and huge collection of pottery during the excavations. The coins and metals recovered from the spot would be sent for metallurgical survey to conduct non-invasive survey to analyse when it was first fired and the textures etc. without causing damage to the metals, she added. All these recoveries were collected after conducting excavations for 30 cm to 60 cm depth.

During the earlier excavations in the village in 1968 and 1973-74, the department had unearthed brick constructions, brick wells and the coins used by the Satavahanas, Mauryas and Romans.

She said that they were taking up the excavations in a scientific manner to preserve the ancient history and legacy of the Satavahana dynasty. She added that they would further continue excavations in coordination with district administration.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Peddubonkur (Peddapalli)- March 29th, 2018

Smart India Hackathon takes off

Business & Economy, Science & Technology
Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education interacting with students at the Smart India Hackathon at CVR College of Engineering on Friday

CVR College, CMRCET are nodal centres in State for the two-day national event

Hundreds of students are putting their creative skills to test to find solutions to the pressing problems of government departments at the grand finale of Smart India Hackathon 2018 that took off at CVR College of Engineering, Ibrahimpatnam and CMR College of Engineering and Technology (CMRCET), the two nodal centres in Telangana.

The two-day national event being held in 28 colleges across the country is a unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations for solving challenges faced by our country. It was inaugurated through video conference by Union HRD Minister, Prakash Javadekar.

The hackathon went live at 8.25 a.m. and coding began at 8.30 a.m. on Friday and will end at 6 p.m. on Saturday. As per rules, three students from each team have to be present at the table at any point of time till the coding ends.

The students were allowed to move from the table only for breakfast, lunch, dinner and recreational activities while tea and snacks were served on the table.

“We are happy to be among the 28 colleges in the country to be hosting the finale,” said Ch. Gopal Reddy, secretary and correspondent, CMRCET, where 42 teams of six students each are competing to write the best code to the most pressing problem. The chief guest at the venue was Rama Devi Lanka, Officer on Special Duty, ITE & C, Telangana Government.

J. Satyanarayan, Chairman of UIDAI, who was the chief guest at CVR College, told students that “innovation is based on two things — doing things differently and doing different things”.

Discussing how digital identity (Aadhaar) has changed the country’s ecosystem, he appealed to the students to create new products and protocols that will address the country’s needs.

The Hackathon witnessed participation from 27 Central Ministries, Departments and 17 State Governments who sent more than 900 problem statements. After scrutiny, 408 problems were finally selected.

Of the 17,400-plus teams, 1,296 entries consisting of 8,000 students were selected for the grand finale. There are prizes to be won for different categories at each centre. The HRD Ministry is also engaging with DST to support with Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) as startups for selective teams.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 30th, 2018