Hyderabad to host conference on India’s COP21 commitments

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) has been selected by the United States Department of State to organise a conference focused on implementing India’s COP21 commitments to be held here on June 24-25.

The conference, ‘Future Is Now: India from COP21 to Reality’, would include international experts and practitioners, environmental NGOs, in-country development organisations, finance experts, Indian companies and philanthropic organisations as well as India’s top national and state decision-makers, a media statement from the U S Consulate General Hyderabad said.

“The participants will explore India’s key climate change issues and opportunities in light of India’s Paris commitments,” it said.

ISC is partnering with the Center for Environment and Development to present the conference, which will feature Indian and US experts on topics such as clean energy, energy efficiency, climate finance, resilience, climate mitigation, air pollution and waste reduction, the statement said.

The Department of State’s Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Desai Biswal, was quoted as saying, “India is a vital player in addressing climate change and we look forward to increasing our partnership to expand clean energy deployment and access.”

Steve Nicholas, Vice President of Urban Programs at ISC, said, “The Paris Agreement is an incredibly important opportunity to reduce emissions and implement green development projects in India. Connecting US and Indian leaders to each other is critical because those professional relationships will continue to pay dividends.”

“We’re honoured to be working with our colleagues in India to understand their challenges, share what we’ve learned, and talk about what’s possible,” he said.

Conference participants, who may include leaders from local government, industry, NGOs, academics, and national government officials, would have the opportunity to connect with their peers and share challenges, solutions and resources, the statement added.

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source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Hyderabad / PTI / May 09th, 2016

At Malkanoor, farmers reap the benefits of dairy farming

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment

Even as acute drought conditions in the State are forcing migration of farm labour in search of employment, this village in Bheemadevarapalli mandal has set an example by overcoming drought by taking to dairy sector as an alternate source of income.

An upland village sans irrigation sources, Mulkanoor has become a role model in the cooperative movement since 1956 with the launch of the Mulkanoor Cooperative Rural Bank and Marketing Society and has farmers who have overcome drought, thanks to the dairy units.

A majority of the population here, comprising about 10,000 people, took to dairy in the past two years to mitigate drought and are reaping the benefits. They supply over 1,500 litres of milk a day to the cooperative dairy and Karimnagar dairy. Besides, some hundreds of litres of milk per day are consumed locally, for a healthy life.

“I was unable to raise any crop on my three acres of land as the well got dried up due to drought since the last two years. I bought two milch animals by taking loan from the cooperative bank and am earning Rs. 200 per day by selling milk after covering input costs of fodder and cattle feed. My animals have stopped my migration from village and I am leading a comfortable life, says Chitkuri Yadagiri, happily.

“The dairy units are a ray of hope for farmers throughout the year. It protects the farmer during the drought and otherwise also by providing nutritious milk and manure,” says Bollampalli Swaroopa, who is rearing a milch animal, that fetches her daily income of Rs. 100 to Rs. 150. Recollecting the olden days where the dairy units were part of agriculture, she called upon farmers to take up dairy units for regular source of income even if there is no drought.

Village sarpanch Vanga Ravi proudly said there was no migration of labour ever since the dairy units have come up. He said farmers had taken to fodder cultivation with available water sources and reaping the benefits. Mulkanoor Cooperative Rural Bank chairman and former legislator A. Praveen Reddy said: We encourage farmers to take up dairy units by providing financial assistance as additional income generating source. Incidentally, they are a hit with farmers repaying the loans too.”

There has been no migration of labour ever since the dairy units have come up / Vanga Ravi, Village sarpanch.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindi / Home> National> Telangana / by K.M. Dayashankar / Mulkanoor (Karimnagar Dist) – May 06th, 2016

UoH Student Bags Baillie Gifford Prize Fellowship

Education, Records, All, World Opinion
Garima Goel
Garima Goel

Hyderabad :

A final year student of MA Political Science at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), Garima Goel has been selected as the Baillie Gifford prize fellow for the year 2016-17.

The fellowship is given to only one person in the world and she would be studying MRes in Contemporary India at King’s College, London.

“With the whole digitisation, there is a lot of data that is available as open source and it is kind of exciting. All I want to do is research on Indian politics and be close to the policies. I just don’t want to keep on writing and be of no use. Publishing papers is not my main aim, creating an impact with my work is what I am looking forward to and I intend to explore understudied topics within mainstream political science in India through a career in research and teaching,” Goel said.

When asked what made her took up research work, she said, “Last year, I was among the three students selected from UoH to do a study on transcultural studies at Heidelberg University, Germany. It is there, my interest for research started and now all I want to do is to carry out research work.”

Goel enjoys uncovering and answering questions related to Indian politics using open data and maps, which are increasingly available to researchers today. During her time at King’s, she will work on ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) voting patterns in India’s elections under the supervision of Dr Louise Tillin.

“Politicians do not care much about NOTA as it has no impact on results. However, through my earlier research, I found out that there has been a significant rise in the use of NOTA and as many assume there is a specific pattern and not just ignorance the reason for usage of NOTA. Also, there is no co-relation between NOTA and turnout,” Goel, who has earlier studied NOTA during the Bihar elections, said.

The fellowship, worth up to 30,000 pounds, provides full financial support to one student at King’s India Institute for research-track Masters programme that imparts advanced training to develop a thesis under expert supervision.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / May 06th, 2016

Telangana students in Indian contingent at ISEF

Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Three school scientists from Telangana will be part of Team India at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) where more than 1,700 school students from over 75 countries will showcase their selected projects. The fair will be held at Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. from May 8 to 14.

The children – P. Meghana, D. Nikitha and D. Vamshi from Paramita School in Karimnagar – representing the Indian team met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who asked them to meet him again and share their experiences once they come back from U.S.

The two students developed the project ‘Reflected Altitude Triangle’ under the guidance of Lalit Mohan Sahu.

The project went through various science fairs, starting from district level to national level. It also made a mark entering into the 102nd India Science Congress 2015 held at University of Mumbai last January.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – May 05th, 2016

Martyr’s memorial to come up on Hussainsagar bank

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Travel

The environs of Hussainsagar lake in the heart of Hyderabad are set to undergo one more change in near future with the Telangana Government deciding to locate a massive martyrs’ memorial on a 12-acre land to be reclaimed by shifting out Buddha Purnima project, tourism and electricity department offices.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a review meeting held here on Tuesday on conducting the State Formation Day celebrations falling on June 2 and laying foundation stone for the new martyrs’ memorial. Accordingly, he would participate in the ground-breaking ceremony for the memorial on June 2 on the bank of Hussainsagar.

He directed the officials to design and construct the memorial in such a way that the spirit of the movement for statehood to Telangana and the sacrifices made by activists were remembered by future generations. Stating that the memorial would be the tallest one, the Chief Minister asked Engineer-in-Chief I. Ganapathi Reddy to take the responsibility to construct the memorial and develop a memorial park.

Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao suggested that the memorial centre also have un-published literature on Telangana history, culture and the movement so that it could be a major literary centre. Giving an example, he said the literature should comprise the biography of Telangana ideologue Prof. K. Jayashankar who spent all his life in the movement for statehood. “If one visits the memorial, one should long for spending more time there. The ambience should reflect the self-respect of Telangana. The Buddha statue would be in front and the Ambedkar statue would be in the back with Secretariat building on the other side. The memorial should be very tall,” the Chief Minister said. He told Mr. Ganapathi Reddy to start supervising the work immediately so that ground work could be taken up at the earliest.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to organise the State Formation Day celebrations in districts, the State capital and the national capital with innovative programmes.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Nwes> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – May 04th, 2016

The Melody Maker

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

With an aim to do something for aspiring artists, singer Aparna Vadlamani founded Hyderabad Couch Breakers (HCB) five months ago.

“Lots of people want to take up playback singing as a career, but only a few end up becoming one. Beginners do not have a platform to showcase their abilities, and this is why HCB was founded,” Vadlamani says. Her life as a mentor began last year at the debut live show of HCB in December last year. Vadlamani left the audiences spellbound with her voice in the packed Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. “People liked our performance a lot,” says Vadlamani.

Aparna Vadlamani /Vinay Madapu
Aparna Vadlamani /Vinay Madapu

Her group got an appreciation from Anup Rubens, a renowned music director who told the singer that her voice was extraordinary and their hard work would pay off. Artists from Telugu film industry, including Kishore Pardasani, were also impressed by the show where Sushrut Pandit, a male singer and director of HCB, performed. Their next show is scheduled for June, and the group plans to conduct two shows a year.

How did the name Hyderabad Couch Breakers occur to her? “Sitting on a couch barely a year ago, I was thinking about a title. The name Hyderabad Couch Breakers occurred to me as I wanted to get people out of their couches and have fun with us,” she says.

Born and brought up in Jamshedpur, Vadlamani moved to Hyderabad after her marriage. Despite the family commitments that kept her involved for a few years, her passion for singing got renewed four years ago when she started taking lessons in Hindustani and Carnatic music. She has performed at several live shows. She also sang for a Tollywood movie that was never released. “It was over five years ago. After my first experience, I realised that the industry doesn’t want real singers. It works on a give-and-take concept. I cannot compromise on morals and ethics for anything in the world,” she says. “Having seen the hardships that young artists face in the industry, I decided to promote talented singers. I wanted it to be a revolution of sorts,” the 33-year-old singer says.

Vadlamani thinks that playback singing is not a real test of talent. Anyone, according to her, can sing well in a studio equipped with sophisticated technology. “The feel of music comes in live shows, where there are no re-takes or edits. Your actual talent is proved on the stage only,” she says, adding that reality shows are not the right platform for beginners either as they are ridden with politics and talented people hardly get a chance.

She calls the idea of HCB an entertainment package. Vadlamani explains that apart from having two hours of non-stop live Bollywood numbers at the show, there is also a glamour quotient with a fashion show where models from Hyderabad-based institutes sashay down the ramp.

“While music is a must for all runways, I thought of adding glamour to the show. It is an effective way to bind the audience, which otherwise is very tough to do,” she says.

As the lead performer behind HCB, Vadlamani selects singers whose “sur, taal and ley” are in place. “Being a performer is important, ‘par sur bina taal nahi, aur inke bina sangeet nahi,” she says. Only good singers can hold audience’s attention for 120 minutes, says Vadlamani, who is planning stand-up comedy gigs to promote HCB. “Music is for all. Woh har kisi mein basta hai. HCB is like having strawberry or butterscotch ice cream instead of the same vanilla always,” she says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Sadaf Aman / April 16th, 2016

Maths model selected for world’s biggest science fair

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

A mathematics model called ‘reflected altitude triangle’ designed by P. Meghana, D. Nikhitha and D. Vamshi, class 10 students of Paramita High School in Karimnagar town, has been selected for the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) which would be held in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A., from May 8 to 14.

The science project designed by the students under the guidance of teacher Lalith Mohan Sabhu had been on a winning spree at all science fairs – from district-level to national-level.

Recently, it was selected at the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS) at IIT-Delhi.

Only students from State

These students are the only ones from Telangana to showcase their model at the world’s biggest science fair in U.S.A. Paramita Educational Institutes’ chairman E. Prasada Rao congratulated the students for bringing repute to the school as well as the entire State.

The Telangana students’ model has been selected for the ISEF in U.S.A

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Karimnagar – May 02nd, 2016

Restoration of Doll House in final stage

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All
The Doll House received a special citation by INTACH recently. Experts believe it predates the Residency Building / Photo: G. Ramakrishna
The Doll House received a special citation by INTACH recently. Experts believe it predates the Residency Building / Photo: G. Ramakrishna

The origin of the building is unknown, but many intriguing stories surround the structure

Why is the Doll House behind the Koti Residency building in the Koti Women’s College premises called so? And what was its purpose? Was it really built for Khairunnisa, the wife of resident James Achilles Kirkpatrick, who couldn’t enter the main structure, or was it actually a scale model built prior to construction of the edifice?

The Doll House received a special citation by INTACH recently. Experts believe it predates the Residency Building (above) in Koti’s Women College.– Photo: G. Ramakrishna
The Doll House received a special citation by INTACH recently. Experts believe it predates the Residency Building (above) in Koti’s Women College.– Photo: G. Ramakrishna

With little information at hand, the origins and purpose of the miniature model, which received a citation from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) recently, are still shrouded in mystery. While that may be so, the good news is that the white marble structure is now almost back to life, thanks to the Deccan Heritage Foundation.

A few theories exist about its origin. According to the romantic version, it was built for Khairunnisa. However, it is now believed that the Doll House could predate the Residency Building itself. Architect Sarat Chandra, who is working on its restoration, said that it could be treatise. “Whenever you construct such a building, you need to build a scale model. But we don’t know if that was done here, because we don’t know the exact date,” he added. Mr. Chandra explained that some of the architectural elements in the Doll House they found were the same as the Residency Building, hence he is inclined to believe that the model predates the latter. “For example, we found wooden beams and circular columns which were similar. Anuradha Naik also found archival evidence of the model, i.e. two videos from the Cambridge University library,” he said.

William Dalrymple, who authored White Mughals, a book on the love story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khairunnisa, also said that there is only speculation about the Doll House’s origins. He added that it could be called so as it is located in what could have been the children’s area back when the Residency building was constructed in the early 20th century. Mr. Chandra also agreed with this, as he said that doll houses are commonly found in European villas.

Lying in the garden behind the Residency Building, the Doll House is now almost restored, with work going on in full swing. When work began last July, apart from the plinth, only the north and south-eastern portions of the Doll House were intact, as a mahogany tree had crashed into it some years ago. Currently in the final stages of restoration, it will take a month more for it to be ready.

Two fountains, pathway discovered

But apart from restoration of the Doll House, heritage conservationists and lovers might be delighted to know that two fountains and a pathway were discovered recently in the garden area. What makes it interesting is that both of them are aligned in a straight line axis with the model. “The next phase of restoration is to restore the garden,” mentioned Mr. Chandra.

Mr. Chandra added that the director of the State Department of Archaeology will conduct a scientific investigation, which will then be used to restore the ‘Rang Mahal’ garden in the coming days.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by Yunus Y. Lasania / May 02nd, 2016

Jeb app bags NPCI award

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Jeb, a mobile app developed by Hyderabad’s VSoft Technologies to facilitate easy, instant transfer of money as an alternative to cash payment, emerged the winner at a hackathon organised by National Payments Corporation of India (MPCI).

The programme, in which 3,819 teams participated, was held to commemorate the launch of NPCI’s payments infrastructure platform – Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

For a host of daily as well as regular payments, be it to purchase groceries, vegetables, paying auto-rickshaw fare, school fees and utility bills or depositing money in another account, the app can perform multiple tasks for which cash is used, says VSoft Technologies COO Dronamraju Srinivas.

Jeb, he says, is not a mobile wallet but a payment channel. It enables users to send and receive money as well as banks to compete with the wallets. The money remains in the customers’ account, earning daily interest until used, unlike the wallets where it is transferred to a third party. Users can add any bank account while interactions can be driven by voice or in their preferred regional language.

VSoft is in talks with a few banks – public, private and in the cooperative fold. The NPCI is yet to finalise the user charges. They are expected to be less than that for NEFT and RTGS, he adds.

City’s VSoft Technologies, the app developer, in talks with a few banks

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by N. Ravi Kumar / Hyderabad – April 29th, 2016

Yudhvir Award to Sanskrit Scholar

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Hyderabad :

The 25th Yudhvir Foundation Memorial Award will be presented to Dr Vijayveer Vidyalankar, one of India’s leading Sanskrit scholars, for his work on the Rasa Siddhant and the Vedas.

The award will be presented by Rajya Sabha MP, K Keshav Rao on April 30 at 6.30 pm at KLN Prasad Auditorium, FATAPCCI Bhavan, Red Hills, Lakdikapul.

The award consists of a citation and a cash prize of `1 lakh. Vidyalankar has supervised the translation of 12 Telugu books into Hindi.

He was earlier honoured for outstanding contribution to Vedic literature in 2009.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / April 27th, 2016