Hyderabad boy bags second rank in NEET

Education, Records, All

Top-100 rank holders include 18 Telugu students

Rohan Purohit, son of a city-based cardiologist, has secured the all-India second rank in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-2018). Another city boy, Muppidi Varun secured the sixth rank while A. Anirudh Babu from Vijayawada was ranked eighth, bringing laurels to the Telugu states.

All the three are from open category and are students of Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions. Purohit missed the coveted all-India first position by just one mark, but emerged top ranker in South India.

At a press conference here, Sri Chaitanya chairman B.S. Rao and director Sushma said it was a matter of pride that 18 Telugu students bagged ranks within top-100 list and of them, 17 belong to their institutions. It was an achievement par excellence and perhaps the best in the country for any single institution, Mr. Rao said.

Other top rankers from the institutions are O.V.S.H. Reddy (14th) Menda Jaideep (16th), Koduru Sriharsha (19th) Siddarth Ravi (25th), Varada Ravi Kiran (36th) and Lokesh P.M. (37th). Mr. Rao announced ₹ 25 lakh scholarship for Rohan Purohit and ₹10 lakh for Muppidi Varun. Parents of the successful students attributed the results to the teachers’ dedication.

Ms. Sushma said the students were made to practice through 134 tests in a year. In fact, 179 questions out of 180 in NEET were from Sri Chaitanya syllabus, she claimed.

An analysis of the results revealed that students of both Telugu states bagged 16% of the top 50 ranks and Delhi was the only state with a similar share. The Telugu states stood at 5th place registering 70.8% pass rate with 66,644 out of 94,130 candidates clearing the exam. The number of candidates from the ‘top 4’ States — Rajashtan, Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh — were far lesser than those from Telugu states.

Narayana’s feat

Narayana Institutions, in a statement, claimed that their students have bagged 11 ranks in top-10 in the open and reserved categories put together.

P. Sharani Narayana and P. Sindhura Narayana, directors of Narayana Group, said their students secured open category ranks of 3rd, 5th, 9th and 10th. They explained that the success of their students lay in the unique educational programme and innovative teaching methodologies designed for medical aspirants.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by R Ravikanth Reddy / Hyderabad – June 04th, 2018

3-day Telugu drama fest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The mandal headquarters town of Charla is set to host a three-day Telugu drama festival from June 2 to 4.

Devabakthuni Nandeeshwarudu Nataka Kala Parishat has been organising the annual festival for the past several years to promote theatre arts, said event organisers.

Artistes belonging to various theatre troupes from different parts of the State and also from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh will showcase their talent during the three-day cultural event slated to begin at Kala Bhavan on Saturday evening.

A troupe from Hyderabad will stage the inaugural play titled Kanneeti Katha.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Bhadradri – Kothagudem, June 01st, 2018

Indian American wins Spelling Bee contest

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nri's / PIO's, Records, All, World Opinion
Karthik Nemmani (14), from McKinney, Texas, holds the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship Trophy with Scripps President and Chief Executive Officer Adam Symson after winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Thursday. | Photo Credit: AP

Nemmani also continued a longtime trend by becoming the 14th champion or co-champion of South Asian descent the bee has had in 11 consecutive years.

Indian-American Karthik Nemmani, was declared champion of the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee, winning on the word “koinonia” and surviving what was arguably the most intense competition in the contest’s 93-year history.

In doing so, the 14-year-old on Thursday night emerged the top speller from a record-shattering 515 contestants at the national bee, compared with 291 last year, after organizers expanded eligibility with a new wild-card programme, reports The Washington Post.

Along the way, he had to outlast a field of 16 finalists who vanquished words such as “Praxitelean”, “ispaghul” and “telyn” in a breathtaking show of spelling skill broadcast live on ESPN.

But Nemmani, who was competing at his first national bee, displayed the poise of a veteran, seeming to sail through his words: “condottiere” (knight or roving soldier available for hire), “miarolitic” (of igneous rock), “cendre” (a moderate blue), “ankyloglossia” (limited normal movement of the tongue), “grognard,” “passus,” “shamir” (tiny worm capable of splitting the hardest stone) and “jaguey” (an East Indian tree).

When it was down to two contestants, him and 12-year-old Naysa Modi, Nemmani remained calm as Modi misspelled “Bewusstseinslage”.

He then knocked out “haecceitas” (the status of being an individual) before receiving the word that would clinch his win: “koinonia”, meaning the Christian fellowship or body of believers.

“I’m just really happy,” he said moments after his victory.

“This has just been a dream come true.”

Nemmani also continued a longtime trend by becoming the 14th champion or co-champion of South Asian descent the bee has had in 11 consecutive years, The Washington Post reported.

The 16 spellers took the stage at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Centre in Maryland to battle it out for the title of champion.

In the first round, nearly half of the finalists misspelled their words, including several crowd favourites such as Tara Singh, a 13-year-old from Kentucky who was competing at her fifth and final national bee.

The 16 finalists ranged in age from 11 to 14 and include nine girls and seven boys.

The winner of the bee receives $40,000 and a trophy from the Scripps Bee, a $2,500 cash prize (and a complete reference library) from Merriam-Webster, trips to New York and Hollywood as part of a media tour, and a pizza party for their school.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> International / by IANS / Washington – June 01st, 2018

Big leap in chickpea and pigeonpea research

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

ICRISAT partners with Israel’s genomic big-data company

Developing high nutritional varieties of chickpea and pigeonpea just got easier. With new technology, genomic processes that could have taken years were completed in a few months.

This has been possible with the work of scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in collaboration with NRGene, Israel, which helped create multiple assembly lines of pigeonpea and chickpea genomes. This means scientists can not only better understand crop traits, they can also significantly speed up work on improved varieties.

With this technology from NRGene, ICRISAT has chickpea and pigeonpea genomes to a reference level quality that researchers can use. This would help maximize favourable nutritional properties of these high-protein legumes.

“The developing world has long faced the pressures of food security with limited farmland,” says Rajeev K. Varshney, research program director of Genetic Gains and director of Center of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology, ICRISAT. “For effective use of genomics-assisted breeding, we need reference genomes of several varieties of a given crop. Therefore, new assemblies of chickpea and pigeonpea lines by NRGene and ICRISAT will allow our scientists and partners to better understand plant traits to breed more nutritional varieties,” he adds.

ICRISAT, in partnership with other institutions, has already decoded and documented genomes of pigeonpea and chickpea (Nature Biotechnology 2013, Nature Biotechnology 2012). Traditional methods would have required years to complete each individual assembly. NRGene’s DeNovoMAGICTM 3.0 delivered multiple assemblies in a matter of months.

“While DeNovoMAGIC has been successfully deployed by the world’s leading seed companies and academic institutions, implementing this for organisations like ICRISAT enhances our mission of making an impact on the world food supply,” says Gil Ronen, CEO of NRGene, adding, “Chickpea, pigeonpea, and other protein-rich legumes will be even more critical crops in the years to come and we are glad that our technology can be used to improve the nutrition status of the world.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Staff Reporter / Sangareddy – May 31st, 2018

Chinese Army officer in Hyderabad college

Education, Records, All, World Opinion

First from China to pursue course at College of Defence Management

An army officer from China, for the first time, will be part of the 44-week Higher Defence Management Course (HDMC) that started at the College of Defence Management (CDM) in Secunderabad on Tuesday.

He is among the 154 select officers in the rank of Colonel and their equivalent in the Navy, Air Force and Paramilitary Forces, including 10 officers from friendly foreign countries including Bhutan, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Nigeria, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and Vietnam.

Lt. General Cherish Mathson, Army Commander, South Western Command, delivered the inaugural address and discussed the importance that the course has in empowering every future leader. The international and tri-service flavour of the course allows varied and unique learning experience for the participating officers.

The course curriculum covers various management subjects related to Behavioural Sciences, Decision Sciences, Resource Management and Research Methodology. The course is pitched at the directional and conceptual level with focus on application of management tools and techniques in operational management. It also includes visit to the field formations in Forward Area, a ‘management education tour’ of private and public sector establishments and an international strategic management tour to understand nuances of geopolitics.

Participants also need to carry out ‘project studies’ to find solutions to challenges faced by the Armed Forces. They are awarded degree of Master of Management Studies (MMS) by Osmania University and a Certificate of Advance Course in Management by All India Management Association (AIMA) on completion of the course.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – May 29th, 2018

‘Red Star’ Madala no more

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 27-05-2018: Former Union Minster and Actor Chiranjeevi consoling the family members after paying homage to Actor and producer Madala Ranga Rao at Flim Nagar in Hyderabad. Photo: K.V.S. Giri | Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI

He shot into fame with ‘Youvatharam Kadilindi’ in 1980

Madala Ranga Rao, considered the original revolutionary hero of Tollywood with path-breaking films in the 80s, promoting the Leftist ideology, passed away on Sunday morning at a private hospital in the city.

Nicknamed Red Star by the industry and film-lovers, Ranga Rao was 71 and he had been suffering from heart-related ailment for some time. He was operated upon last year for heart ailment and was recovering. He had been associated with the CPI’s cultural wing for a long time before he ventured into films, promoting the same ideology.

Though he started his career with Chairman Chalamayya, a political satire, he shot into fame with ‘Youvatharam Kadilindi’ in 1980 and bagged the Golden Nandi award. He didn’t look back for nearly a decade with super-hits, including Erra Mallelu, Mahaprasthanam, Viplava Shankham, Praja Shakti, Erra Suryudu and Swarajyam Maro Kurukshetram. Some of these were golden jubilees, a rare achievement in the era of big heroes. There was a huge fan following for him, among the youngsters particularly.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, YSRCP chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and CPI leader K. Narayana also condoled the death of Ranga Rao.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – May 28th, 2018

Hyderabad-based Icrisat, KeyGene sign pact that will benefit farmers in Asia and Africa

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

A global partnership on technologies has been signed between ICRISAT, Hyderabad and KeyGene, a Netherlands-based agricultural biotech company which will potentially benefit millions of smallholder farmers across Asia and Africa.

The partnership was entered into on May 25, 2018 in Mumbai by KeyGene and the not–for-profit scientific research organization, the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) with the signing of a Letter of Intent (LoI), for research and co-development on legumes and cereals. The two institutions will work together using novel crop innovation solutions based on KeyGene’s proprietary technologies and know-how.

The signing took place at a high profile trade mission hosted by the High Commission of The Netherlands, in presence of the Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (The Netherlands) Ms Carola Schouten, in Mumbai. The LoI was signed by Dr. Kiran K Sharma, Deputy Director General Research (Acting), ICRISAT and Dr. Arjen van Tunen, CEO, KeyGene.

KeyGene and ICRISAT will work together on innovative approaches for trait development and gene discovery. KeyGene will share its knowledge and expertise on crops and the use of KeyGene’s crop innovation platforms. This includes KeyGene’s Sequence Based Genotyping (SBG) and mutation breeding technologies. The genetically diverse grain legume resources of ICRISAT will serve as a reservoir for the identification and exploitation of useful traits. These will be used as a starting point for crop breeding and mutagenesis programs. Capacity building and skill development of start-up entrepreneurs is also envisaged in this collaboration through ICRISAT’s BioNEST-Bioincubator “BioNCube”.

“We look forward to this collaboration with ICRISAT to combine scientific expertise from both organizations. The applications of KeyGene technology in the germplasm of ICRISAT’s mandate crops can help develop highly productive and resilient crops for food and nutrition security of the poorest populations in India and Africa,” said Arjen van Tunen, CEO KeyGene.

“As part of this partnership, we are hopeful to see rapid improvements in the applications of technology and its translation into next-generation agricultural products to benefit smallholder farmers in the drylands. We also believe that the combined knowledge will enable building capacity to foster innovation in agriculture,” said Peter Carberry, Director General (Acting), ICRISAT.

The collaborative efforts are aimed at improvement of the crops such as chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut. It reflects the mission of both institutions – where KeyGene has been supporting organizations for R&D challenges in agriculture and ICRISAT has been partnering private sector capabilities for public good.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> India News / by Ch. Sushil Rao / TNN / May 28th, 2018