Category Archives: Education

Rare sculpture of Rudrama Devi’s ‘last’ battle discovered

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel

The sculpture showing Kakatiya warrior queen Rudrama Devi in combat with her subordinate chief Kayastha King Ambadeva.

It provides crucial information on the death of warrior queen

A sculptural slab carved in granite that has a life-size portrait of Kakatiya warrior queen Rudrama Devi was discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the sanctum sanctorum of Trikuta temple at Bekkallu village in Siddipet district.

Stating that the discovery has unravelled the mystery of her death, the officials said Rudrama Devi was killed during a war by her own subordinate chief Kayastha King Ambadeva somewhere near Warangal.

During an extensive exploration survey to ascertain the antiquity and architectural ascendancy of ancient shrines that flourished under the celebrated regime of Kakatiyas (11th to 13th century) in both the Telugu States, D. Kanna Babu, Superintending Archaeologist, Temple Survey Project (Southern Region), ASI Chennai, discovered the sculptural slab in which the portrait of Rudrama Devi is carved, a week ago.

“The discovery of the portrait sculpture is a first of its kind that displays a fierce fighting scene between Rudrama Devi and Ambadeva and it stands as a supporting evidence to the recent findings in Telangana,” Mr. Babu said. He said the uniqueness of the sculpture was that it vividly shows Rudrama Devi (A.D. 1262-1289) as a commanding and imperial personality with characteristic gesticulations of a ferocious warrior. “It might answer all the questions and doubts that the historians and archaeologists had about her death since decades. Thanks to the unknown sculptor who left a credible source for us to reconstruct the life history of the queen, particularly her end,” he said.

He said the sculptured panel in a rectangular frame superbly represents the imperial personality of Rudrama Devi who is riding a horse with a sword in her right hand while her left hand holds the reigns.

Describing the sculpture, Mr. Babu said the queen’s arms and wrists are embellished with warrior shields. “She is wearing robes of a male warrior with a waist belt and has her left leg over the hanging pedal while a shield is securing her chest,” he explained.

Ambadeva, the rebellion sub-ordinate chief, is in his war robes with a tightly-fixed lower garment, a waist belt and arm guards.

“He escaped the blows of Rudrama Devi and overpowered the horse and harmed it. The horse falls on its face and Rudrama Devi is surprised of his sudden action of rebel. Finally, Ambadeva kills her and she attains viraswargam,” he said.

The patron and artisan who carved the sculpture acted with far-sightedness who thought that these would serve as commemorative visual aids on Rudrama Devi for her successive generations, he said and added that the queen’s domestic help must have carved the sculpture.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Abhinay Deshpande / Hyderabad – April 08th, 2018

UoH prof. ‘discovers’ two languages

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Publishes paper on endangered languages, giving insight into Walmiki and Malhar

A linguistics professor at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has claimed to have discovered two languages spoken in a few pockets of Odisha and areas bordering Andhra Pradesh.

Panchanan Mohanty, former dean of UoH’s School of Humanities, published a paper in the proceedings of the XX Annual Conference of the Foundation for Endangered Languages, U.K. giving an insight into the two languages. One of them is Walmiki, spoken in Koraput district of Odisha and bordering districts of Andhra Pradesh, and the other, Malhar spoken in a remote, isolated hamlet located 165 km from Bhubaneswar.

Prof. Mohanty claims that Walmiki does not belong to a particular family of languages and its name is also interesting and indicative because the speech community claims descent from the great Indian saint-poet Valmiki. Malhar is spoken by a community consisting of about 75 people, including children, he adds.

“Fortunately, most of them are very fluent in this language because they live isolated from the Odia-speaking neighbours and survive on daily labour and collections from the nearby forest,” he points out.

He says preliminary data collected clearly shows that Malhar belongs to the North Dravidian subgroup of the Dravidian family of languages and has close affinity with the other North Dravidian languages like Malto and Kurux spoken in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

“The team is trying to find if there are other speakers of Malhar in any of the nearby places apart from documenting both the languages before they become extinct,” he said in a statement from the UoH.

Prof. Mohanty is also the president of Linguistic Society of India and coordinator of the Centre for Endangered Languages and Mother Tongue Studies, UoH.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – April 07th, 2018

City man to train Olympiad aspirants

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, World Opinion

Rahul Chakravarthy, a city-based businessman, who works in the field of education content, has been selected to train a team of students that would represent India at the International Mathematical Olympiad.

The training camp, run by Homi Bhaha Centre for Science Education, is running a training camp in Mumbai from April 18 to May 16, for which a faculty team is being put together.

Mr. Chakravarthy has been selected as one of the faculty members.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> City> Hyderabad / April 04th, 2018

Global University Systems opens office in city

Business & Economy, Education, Records, All, World Opinion

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

City taekwondo champ on a kick

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

B. Sai Deepak is gunning for six more world records this year.

Sai Deepak giving his all to qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Being a son of an auto-rickshaw driver was never an impediment for 22-year-old B. Sai Deepak, who was the youngest to set two Guinness World Records in taekwondo recently, to give his all to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Deepak’s desire to make it big in the world of sports began when he watched ace shooter Abhinav Bhindra stand on the podium with the gold medal in 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Since then, I have always been chasing the dream of representing India in Olympics,” the engineering graduate, who is now pursuing MBA, told The Hindu.

Deepak set his first Guinness record in full contact with alternate elbows (142 in 60 seconds) in November 2017 and then another full contact with knee strikes (though he did 205 in three minutes, it was ratified at 175 itself) in December last.

A trainee under renowned taekwondo expert M. Jayanth Reddy from the city, who himself has set many world records, this fitness freak is now gunning for six more world records this year starting in March trying to beat Pakistan’s Irfan Mehmood’s single elbow strikes record of 128 in 60 seconds.

A silver medallist in the nationals, Deepak’s biggest achievement was a gold in the Indo-Nepal International Taekwondo Meet last May.

Ironically, this gifted taekwondo expert couldn’t make it to the U.S. Open Championship for want of financial assistance.

What is the route to Olympics? “It’s a demanding task. You have to win at least two medals in two Grade-II events featuring more than 60 countries and it’s never easy. But thanks to Jayanth Reddy sir, we are training with that specific goal of getting the qualifying mark,” says Deepak, a resident of Krishna Nagar.

“I am determined to achieve another first by making it to the Olympics by working hard despite all odds,” he signs off.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Telangana / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – March 24th, 2018

Recognition for retired scientist

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Thirmandas Narayana Gowd

Thirmandas Narayana Gowd, a 77-year-old retired scientist and former head of Rock Mechanics and Mineral Physics division of National Geophysical Research Institute, has been conferred with the ‘Best Citizens of India Award-2017’ by the International Publishing House.

Hailing from Kollapur region of erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, Mr. Gowd completed his masters and Ph.D. in geophysics at Osmania University.

He was recognised for his lifelong research on the stress and orientation of the rock fractures/geological faults as the reason behind the earthquakes in the ‘shield area’ comprising Indian states south of Himalayas, a press communiqué said. He theoretically analysed the role of pore fluid pressure in Koyna earthquake.

He had also received German academic exchange service (DAAD) fellowship for laboratory investigations on his chosen subject.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu /Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – March 24th, 2018

Dravidian language family is 4,500 years old: study

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

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

The Dravidian language family, consisting of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central India, originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has found.

This estimate is based on new linguistic analyses by an international team, including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, and the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.

The researchers used data collected first-hand from native speakers representing all previously reported Dravidian subgroups. The findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, match with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies.

South Asia, reaching from Afghanistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east, is home to at least six hundred languages belonging to six large language families, including Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan.

The Dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties (both languages and dialects) is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central India, and surrounding countries.

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

Along with Sanskrit, Tamil is one of the world’s classical languages, but unlike Sanskrit, there is continuity between its classical and modern forms documented in inscriptions, poems, and secular and religious texts and songs, they said.

“The study of the Dravidian languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, as they played a significant role in influencing other language groups,” said Annemarie Verkerk of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language nor its exact dispersal through time is known with certainty.

The consensus of the research community is that the Dravidians are natives of the Indian subcontinent and were present prior to the arrival of the Indo-Aryans (Indo-European speakers) in India around 3,500 years ago.

Researchers said that it is likely that the Dravidian languages were much more widespread to the west in the past than they are today.

In order to examine questions about when and where the Dravidian languages developed, they made a detailed investigation of the historical relationships of 20 Dravidian varieties.

Study author Vishnupriya Kolipakam of the Wildlife Institute of India collected contemporary first-hand data from native speakers of a diverse sample of Dravidian languages, representing all the previously reported subgroups of Dravidian.

The researchers used advanced statistical methods to infer the age and sub-grouping of the Dravidian language family at about 4,000-4,500 years old.

This estimate, while in line with suggestions from previous linguistic studies, is a more robust result because it was found consistently in the majority of the different statistical models of evolution tested in this study.

This age also matches well with inferences from archaeology, which have previously placed the diversification of Dravidian into North, Central, and South branches at exactly this age, coinciding with the beginnings of cultural developments evident in the archaeological record.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Science / by PTI / Berlin – March 21st, 2018

Hyderabad varsity faculty wins Young Scientist Award

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology

Governor of Imphal Najma Heptulla has presented the Young Scientist Award to Dr Murali Banavoth in 105th ISC.

Dr Banavoth has been conferred with three Young Scientist Awards till now, after his joining the University of Hyderabad in January 2017, according to a press release.

Hyderabad:

For his contributions to the solar energy research during the 105th Indian Science Congress (ISC) held at Manipur University, Imphal from March 16 to 20, Dr Murali Banavoth, faculty in the School of Chemistry at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has been conferred with the Young Scientist Award in the Materials Science domain.

India Science Congress Association is a professional body under Department of Science & Technology and Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. The 105th Science Congress, was attended by about 5,000 delegations including scientists, scholars and researchers from all across the country with a focal theme: “Reaching the unreached through Science and Technology”. Governor of Imphal Najma Heptulla has presented the awards.

Dr Banavoth has been conferred with three Young Scientist Awards till now, after his joining the University of Hyderabad in January 2017, according to a press release. After obtaining his Ph.D., from Indian Institute of Science, he had moved to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) at Solar Center as a post-doctoral associate and carried out pioneering work in the field of hybrid functional materials for solar harvesting, the release added.

source: http://www.telanganatoday.com / Telangana Today / Home / by T Lalith Singh / March 21st, 2018

Boy uses feet to write test

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Hyderabad :

Elluri Shankar, a student of a government school in Mancherial district, wrote his Class 10 board exam using his feet.

He lost his hands in an accident when hewas in Class6 but that did not stop the 16-year-old to pursue his education and set an example for fellow students.

According to Gampa Srinivas, headmaster of Nennel High School, Shankar lost both his hands after sustaining an electric shock when he was playing with his friends at an under construction site.

“The accident did not prove to be a deterrent for him. He learnt to write with his feet soon after the accident and never opted for a writer,” said Srinivas.

The student, who hails from Nennel mandal in Adilabad, sat on the bench and wrote the first language paper. The headmaster said that Shankar lost his father at an early age and his mother was forcedtowork as a labourer. “There was a phase when the student wanted to quit his studies and support his family by doing domestic work. However, we encouraged him to pursue his studies to support his family in a better way,” he said.

Shankar is the only son of his mother and has two sisters, who are married.

Shankar wants to become independent in life and master some special skills after scoring goods marks in SSC exams. “He is brighter in academics than his classmates and has a resilience to learn. He doesn’t want to be dependent on anyone,” Srinivas added.

A photograph of Shankar writing with his feet went viral on social media with many people lauding his efforts. “Student of a 10 standard from a government school of Mancherial district Telangana, Shankar is giving exams in spite of all odds& has set an examplefor all students (sic),” tweeted Shaikh Zeeshan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Hyderabad News / TNN / March 16th, 2018

A tinkerer’s paradise

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

A small beginning: Students at the newly-inaugurated tinkerers’ lab at IIT-H in Sangareddy on Thursday.

Tinkerers’ lab inaugurated at IIT Hyderabad

A tinkerers’ lab was inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH), at Kandi mandal headquarters here on Thursday.

Established on the hostel premises to let both students and teachers have access to the lab round the clock, it has 3D printer and miniature CMC machine. It’s a space to explore technology and tinker with whatever possible to convert creative ideas into practical products.

This is the third tinkerers’ lab established at an IIT in the country with the first coming up at IIT-Mumbai four years ago followed by IIT Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat in January.

These tinkerers’ labs were established by the alumni of 1975 batch of IIT-Mumbai.

“Tinkering in the early stage and creating something, however small it may be, will help students learn many aspects of innovation that they may not learn in a classroom,” said Hemanth Kanakia, chief guest at the inauguration ceremony and general partner at Columbia Capital, U.S.A., while addressing the students and faculty. He is also the alumni of IIT-Mumbai who is instrumental in establishing the lab.

“This is the first sponsored lab at IIT-H. The alumni of IIT-Mumbai have come forward to help us. The lab will be helpful for students and teachers to experiment and fix things. It would be better if students learn to tinker and fix things at an early stage,” said U.B. Desai, Director, IIT-H.

A team of 10 students – Lalith, Shashank, Shaswath, Rahul Devaraj, Jayasimha, Sourab Soni, Kishore, Chaitanya Sagar and Rajiv Jain – would lead the lab guided by Sushmee Badhulika and Viswanth.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by R. Avadhani / Kandi – March 02nd, 2018