Prabhdeep Singh, originally from Chandigarh, and with work experience in Hyderabad, Antoine Poirson of France, and Jose Leon, a Costa Rican – OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
A trio of MBAs launches a service that’s taking patients and their families across State borders.
They were from three continents and they met at a business school in France. Their idea: simplified medical transport as easy as ride-hailing for patients and caregivers. Prabhdeep Singh, originally from Chandigarh, and with work experience in Hyderabad, Antoine Poirson from France, and Jose Leon from Costa Rica, came up with StanPlus.
The year-old Hyderabad start-up opened with an offer to send an ambulance in under 15 minutes.
It got the most unusual requests. An ailing man was transported from Hyderabad to Guwahati – a 2,500 km drive –after his doctors informed his family that he was at the end of his life and suggested he be taken to his native place. The patient’s son turned to StanPlus and was even prepared to face a crisis en route. Mr. Singh, the CEO, says, “We arranged for an ambulance equipped with a body freezer and two drivers. Luckily, the person reached home alive.”
It recently ferried a four-hour-old baby from Hyderabad to Vizianagaram, a distance of 700 km. The vehicle had an incubator and a facility for light therapy. “A few days back, a lady gave birth to twins in an ambulance .”
The idea originated when Mr. Poirson, working with an energy major in Rajasthan, saw his colleague die in an accident because no ambulance was nearby. Mr. Singh, with his healthcare stint, saw the demand for a responsive ambulance service. The company is plugged into real-time live tracking, aided by a call centre. “We are not in the pay of hospitals, so the patient takes the call. The option is to go to the nearest hospital and charge per km,” he says. Hyderabad also has the emergency-only “108” ambulances. Only 20% of ambulance calls are emergencies, says Mr. Singh, who runs 300 vehicles.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Serish Nanisetti / Hyderabad – April 04th, 2018
Students of Kakatiya Institute of Technology and Science (KITS) here have brought laurels to the college by winning awards from IT giant TCS.
Institute director Y. Manohar said Sai Pranitha Kanthala, a B. Tech student, bagged the TCS Best Student award while Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) student Saivishnu Varma Kalidindi and his team won TCS Best Project award for 2016-17.
V. Rajanna, vice-president and regional head of TCS-Hyderbad, gave away the awards comprising a gold medal, a certificate and a cash prize of ₹10,000.
The award presentation ceremony was held at the TCS Synergy Park Campus in Hyderabad on March 29.
The award-winning project was titled ‘Eye Monitored Wheelchair Control’, crafted by ECE students of the institute.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Warangal – Urban Dt., – April 03rd, 2018
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
Yarn dyed in natural colours drying at a weaver’s home
As part of a programme called Disha, UNDP, Creative Bee and IDF will help women weavers step up the quality of handlooms and form a cooperative movement.
Government-mooted schemes meant for the betterment of weavers and craftspeople have benefited some pockets of the State, but there are many other regions where weavers struggle to make ends meet, relying on daily wages to get by. Some of these villages in far-flung areas see women making barely ₹500 to ₹1000 per month, after spending 15 to 20 days weaving a sari. “It’s heartbreaking; the women hold on to their craft because they don’t know anything else, but they haven’t been able to leverage their skill to better their livelihood,” says Bina Rao of Creative Bee.
Rao has been travelling extensively in the interiors of Telangana and has just wrapped up a training programme for 140 women in a village near Pochampally. The training is a part of a year-long programme called Disha. Training modules will be held in villages across Yadadri, Nalgonda, Warangal and Siddipet districts, with the support of IKEA Foundation, IDF (research body India Development Foundation) and government of Telangana.
The prime objective is to promote entrepreneurship by equipping women weavers and craftsmen to understand changing market needs and learn the ropes of direct marketing. At the end of the programme, Disha will function as a women’s cooperative body. Disha is a pan-India initiative by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in collaboration with several government and local bodies to conduct training in textiles, agriculture, handicrafts, education, women empowerment, and more.
In Telangana, UNDP is working with Creative Bee and the focus is on textiles. Creative Bee is harnessing its two-decade experience in the textile sector to help 2000 women weavers learn direct marketing and step up their production quality.
“Weavers will be trained to use internationally approved and environmentally safe VAT, reactive and acid dyes for cotton and silk; these dyes are safe on their skin as well, unlike the dyes they now use. We found many villages using naphthol dyes that are carcinogenic and environmentally harmful,” says Rao.
Challenges ahead
To get things underway, despite the partners on board, Rao says there were challenges. They didn’t have funds for yarn, fabric, dyes, stipend and food requirement for the training days. “Weavers won’t turn up for training unless their daily wage loss is compensated,” she points out. She knocked the doors of corporates seeking CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds. Some of them were willing, but only after the current financial year. Since the training had to begin, she used yarn and fabric from Creative Bee Foundation and dyes were sponsored by Gujarat-based Colourtex.
Rao points out that while many pockets specialise in ikat weaving, after the division of Telugu states into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, we don’t have a plain fabric weaving stronghold like Mangalagiri. She mooted the idea to weaver pockets in Siddipet and Sirsila and plans are on to step up plain fabric weaving.
Thinking big
Creative Bee is also reaching out to pan-India retail stores such as FabIndia and Westside, exhibitions and e-commerce portals for better reach of the products developed by the women. In addition, 40 women will be trained to form a manager cadre and handle marketing and administrative responsibilities. In principle, Rao notes that the state government has agreed to have a building that will work as an aggregation centre. “But we are also looking at a contingency plan in case it doesn’t take off. For this, we are hoping corporates will chip in,” she says.
Efforts are also on to enable each of these women reap the benefits of the sale of their products through proceeds that will be deposited in their bank accounts.
As a first step, women weavers will directly interact with buyers and showcase their handloom products in Hyderabad on March 30 and 31; 11am to 5pm, at Saptaparni, Road no.8, Banjara Hills.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Fashion> Handloom / by Sangeetha Devi Dundoo / March 27th, 2018
Global University Systems (GUS), an international network of higher-education institutions, has established a presence in India with an office in the city.
GUS Education (India) LLP would work to boost technological developments, digital initiatives and enterprise capabilities for the education sector. The new entity would support GUS’ global operations as well as work with national level universities and colleges in the country.
Besides creating local jobs, the company proposes to make global use of the skilled workforce available in India, a GUS release on Industries and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao inaugurating the Hyderabad office on Monday said.
The Minister said Hyderabad was attracting great deal of talent from across the country and world. Home already to facilities of several leading technology firms, including Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon, the city offers good growth potential, he said, hoping GUS to scale up operations soon.
Describing GUS Education (India) LLP as the “fastest growing part of our business,” GUS founder and CEO Aaron Etingen said the headcount of the new office was 100 and there are plan to grow further in the coming years.GUS Education (India) LLP managing director Shashi Jaligama said a wide range of career opportunities would be offered for technology professionals in Hyderabad.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 26th, 2018
Sircilla weavers given orders for school uniforms, Ramzan gifts and Bathukamma sarees
The power loom weavers of Sircilla textile town in Rajanna-Sircilla district have their hands full as the State government has placed bulk orders for school uniforms, Ramzan gifts and Bathukamma sarees.
Following controversies over the distribution of Bathukamma sarees during the last Dasara, this time the government has exercised caution by placing order for Bathukamma sarees only with the Sircilla textile town, providing employment to the weavers and others belonging to various allied sectors of the textile industry, consistently for more than six months.
It may be recalled that last year the government had placed the bulk orders for Bathukamma sarees in the month of May, and the weavers could weave only 60 lakh sarees. In order to avoid last-minute rush, the orders were placed well in advance.
As per the textile calendar, the power loom weavers have already completed working on school uniforms worth ₹55 crore measuring 120 lakh metres under the Rajiv Vidya Mission. They had also handed over fabric worth 10.22 lakh metres to social welfare department and Ramzan gifts of 25 lakh metres for shirting and 30 lakh metres for pyjamas.
A total of 85 lakh sarees worth ₹250 crore would be distributed among the BPL women for the Bathukamma festival this year.
The State government had already placed orders for the sarees and the weavers have also placed orders for the procurement of yarn to begin the production from first week of April onwards. The government’s bulk order would ensure salary worth ₹16,000 per month against the regular salary of ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 per month for the weavers.
Assistant Director (Handloom and Textiles) Ashok Rao told The Hindu that Bathukamma sarees would be weaved by a total of 25,000 power looms providing employment to 10,000 weavers directly and another 10,000 weavers indirectly with allied sectors of power loom industry.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by K. M. Dayashankar / Rajanna-Sircilla, March 19th, 2018
Three of them likely to come up with a demo model by July
US aerospace major Boeing is using the T-Hub facility in the city to groom startups and tap the tech and innovation ecosystem.
By July this year, three startups are likely to ready a demo model after which Boeing will decide on the schema of collaboration.
This was disclosed by Pradeep Fernandes, MD, Disruptive HorizonX, on Thursday as he spelled out how the company is exploring the new technology and innovation ecosystem.
“We wanted to tap the startup ecosystem and began exploring it post the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. We began with 4,500 startups that was narrowed down to 80, and now, we have short-listed 13 for the innovation challenge,” said Mr. Fernandes, on the sidelines of Wings India 2018 in the city.
Boeing is tapping startups for developing autonomous and unmanned systems, advanced manufacturing, industrial IOT and automation, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
“The numbers appear big because many of the startups have just ideas and we are helping them develop working prototypes. India is the first country where we are trying this kind of innovative approach,” pointed out Mr. Fernandes.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 09th, 2018
Wheels of change: Bleseena, a woman forklift driver, at IKEA’s Hyderabad store.
IKEA’s upcoming Hyderabad store has eight women forklift drivers
Bleseena and Sirisha may come across as ordinary young working women, but if you see them at work, your perception is bound to change.
For, their job is a little unusual — they are forklift truck drivers in what is a male-dominated field. Working in the logistics wing of IKEA’s upcoming Hyderabad store, they drive forklifts and operate them to carry material loads and stack pallets onto warehouse shelves or trucks. And in doing so with competence and ease, they shattered the myth that women shy away from taking up jobs that are ‘meant’ for men.
A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances as part of logistics operations. In a country where not many women are seen driving vehicles, Ikea Hyderabad store has eight women forklift drivers, and another 10 in its Pune distribution centre.
Impressed with them, the Swedish home furnishing and furniture major has more recruitments underway for its upcoming store in Hyderabad and distribution centres across India.
Family support
Sharing how they garnered support from their respective families and male colleagues who initially scoffed at them, they told The Hindu, “We convinced them to let us undergo training and after that, there was no looking back.”
What motivated the young women to break work barriers? City-bred Bleseena, youngest of four siblings, wanted to have a job before getting married.
After securing one in a private company as a packing co-worker, she saw male colleagues operating forklift trucks and wanted to try her hand at it.
After her manager reluctantly let her train, Bleseena surprised him by learning to operate forklift truck in just a week.
After joining IKEA that was looking to ensure gender balance in all its operations, she further trained to drive IKEA’s specialised forklift machine.
With a supportive husband, the mother of an 18-month-old girl says her ambition is to motivate more women to enter the field.
Sirisha, hailing from Addanki in Andhra Pradesh, had to persuade her husband to let her work as a forklift operator. “My proud moment was when my father, who could never learn driving, was happy to see me driving the big machine. My wish is now to train more women in rural areas to be forklift operators,” says Sirisha.
Globally, women constitute 55% of IKEA’s workforce and 49% of leadership roles were held by women.
In India, women constitute 48% of the workforce and the target is to achieve 50:50 in all levels and functions, says Anna-Carin Mansson, Retail Country HR Manager, IKEA.
“From accuracy to due diligence, women bring good skill set to the workplace. They are enthusiastic, ambitious and importantly have the values which IKEA swears by,” says John Achillea, MD, IKEA-Telangana.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by M.L. Melly Maitreyi / Hyderabad – March 07th, 2018
Develop a cost-effective automated toy-making machine
A team of six students from S.R. Engineering College (SREC) in Warangal bagged the top prize at a national-level problem solving competition for their automated toy maker innovation meant for rural toy makers.
College principal V. Mahesh said the competition was organised by Indo-Universal Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) Student Consortium for Advancement and Learning in Engineering Education at Tyagaraja college of Engineering between January 5 and january 7 at Madurai. The winning students were Paul Vineeth Reddy (4th year ECE), K. Enosh (3rd year Mech), S. Sirihasa (3rd year CSE), Md. Imran Ahmad (3rd year Mech) K. Sricharan (3rd year EEE) and D. Vinay (3rd year ECE).
The award was given to SREC students for developing a cost-effective automated toy making machine that increases productivity four-fold.
The competition saw entrants from 30 colleges across nation, who were asked to submit a solution to a specific problem or challenge. The participants from SREC visited a nearby village to identify the existing problems. They generated multiple ideas and finally decided on a cost-effective solution for toy makers.
“It is indeed a challenge and what gave us immense satisfaction is solving a problem” the students said. Explaining their idea and innovation, the students added that the automated machine would allow toy makers to make 40 toys per day, boosting their productivity. In the conventional manual method, they could produce a maximum of 10 toys.
The machine will have a grinder, conveyor belt, rollers, block cutter, die punch and a furnace.
source: http://www.the hindu.com / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Warangal Urban District – January 11th, 2018
IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao, Yvonne Chiu, Chairman of WITSA, James (Jim) Poisant, secretary general of WITSA, and R. Chandrashekhar, Nasscom president, addressing the media in the city on Thursday.
WCIT and Nasscom India Leadership Forum to be hosted here
The Telangana government and the National Association of Software and Services Companies are in discussion for establishing a Centre of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences in the State.
The facility would create awareness on the emerging technologies, help start-ups and map capabilities in the areas as well as prescribe standards in their use. “We are in discussion with the State,” Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said, adding that the CoE would be in tune with the State government’s focus on AI and data sciences.
Along with Telangana IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao, he was addressing the media on the upcoming World Congress on Information Technology and Nasscom India Leadership Forum-2018.
Nasscom, with which the Karnataka government had set up such a CoE in Bengaluru, proposes to have a few such facilities to aid in absorption of the technologies in different domains such as financial sector, healthcare, agriculture and manufacturing across the country. The CoE would build a repository of capabilities in the field.
“This is like Olympics of IT,” he said describing the WCIT to be held in India for the first time. The leadership forum is also being held in Hyderabad for the first time. The three-day event begins on February 19. Nasscom has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate. Mr. Rama Rao said thought leaders and those from the industry and government would be participating in the event comprising 22 power-packed sessions and 24 different forums. For Hyderabad, the WCIT comes close on the heels of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit that it hosted, in which Mr. Modi and U.S. President’s Advisor Ivanka Trump participated.
“Hyderabad will get visibility across the world once more,” the Minister said. Major announcements could be expected from the State government in the context of its discussions with Nasscom and the focus being on AI, robotics and cyber security, he said.
Discussions on AI, blockchain, experience age, innovation, future of work, sports and technology, policy dialogues, new tech deep dives, CIO sessions and boardroom CEO sessions would form part of the event.
Citizen robot
Among the participants would be Sophia, the first citizen robot. Leading names from the industry scheduled to attend the WCIT are Honeywell Chairman David M. Cote, CEO of Adobe Shantanu Narayen, Coursera founder Andrew Ng and founder and CEO of InMobi Naveen Tiwari. Figuring in the list of speakers are Sadhguru of Isha Foundation and Soumitra Dutta, dean, Cornell SC Johnson School of Business. Over 2,500 delegates are expected at WCIT-NILF-2018, with nearly 500 of them from over 30 countries.
Secretary General of World Information Technology and Services Alliance James H. Poisant said from being a biennial conference, WCIT since 2017 has been converted into an annual event in the backdrop of the rapid changes in the technology space.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – January 12th, 2018
