Archeologists have found a hand axe and hammer stone from a place just outside Hyderabad that they believe is from the stone age—the paleolithic era.
Stone age hammer discovered on the outskirts of Hyderabad at Athvelly in Medal district | Express photo
Hyderabad :
What do we know about Hyderabad’s or Telangana’s ancient history, beyond stories of Qutb Shahis, Nizams, Kakatiyas or Satavahanas? Maybe reports of megalithic burials from iron age being discovered in the State.
But now, archeologists have found a hand axe and hammer stone from a place just outside Hyderabad that they believe is from the stone age—the paleolithic era. The tools, that were found at Athvelly which lies about 35 km away from the city in Medchal district, indicate that there’s much left to be explored about Telangana’s history.
The tools were found by E Sai Krishna of Hyderabad, a Ph.D scholar in Archaeology from Deccan College in Pune and an Assistant Archaeologist with Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) in the Amravati circle. Krishna showed his findings to Dr K Padayya, Emeritus Professor at Deccan College, a Padma Shri awardee and expert in Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures of the Deccan.
When contacted by Express, Dr Padayya said: “Findings of Krishna are actually stray discoveries as they do not belong to a regular site. However, it is an important beginning because these findings hint at fact that the area is rich in paleolithic archaeology. Speaking to Express, Krishna said, “I am interested to find out more about the prehistory of Hyderabad and surrounding districts.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by V. Nilesh, Express News Service / June 15th, 2018
This couple’s road trip across 19 countries proves that age is just a number.
Dr Rajesh Kadakia and Dr Darshana Kadakia
63-year-old Dr Rajesh Kadakia and his 60-year-old wife Dr Darshana Kadakia are poised to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first couple to travel across the world in a modified Toyota SUV.
After having travelled 3,400 km, through 19 countries, in 62 days, they have finally arrived in Hyderabad on June 13 in their Land Cruiser.
“This has been an epic journey. People have travelled from Bangalore to London, and from London to Mumbai. But there is no record of anyone having travelled from California to India,” Dr Rajesh says.
The physician from California who has roots in Secunderabad calls his journey a “home run”. “For me to leave my home in the US and come to my mother’s home in Secunderabad is like hitting a home run,” he says.
An avid traveller from a young age, Dr Rajesh was deeply influenced by his uncle Kiran Modi, a regular participant in the Himalayan car rally. “Initially, I was his navigator until I managed to get involved with the Himalayan car rally myself,” he says. The couple left the comfort of their home in California to take on this “epic” adventure two months ago. Their unconventional travels took them to Russia, China, and Tibet, before bringing them to India. “We had to get visas, permits, and a host of other documentation, as well as prepare the vehicle to handle the journey,” they say.
Yet, the regulatory requirements of the countries that they passed through imposed a significant burden on them. “Crossing every border checkpoint was a challenge. In Russia, every single item in our car was taken out and thrown on the road. We underwent the same grilling at the entry and exit points of Mongolia,” Dr Rajesh says.
They chose not to publicise their trip due to security reasons. “Because of the geopolitical areas that we were passing through as American citizens, we avoided publicity,” he adds.
One of the biggest challenges they faced was travelling through high-altitude areas. “We had significant difficulty crossing high-altitude regions. We crossed the Mt Everest base camp, Kailash, Mansarovar, and Tung La Pass in Tibet. We had to travel through difficult conditions created by snow, mud, and dirt. The risk of engine failure and freezing to death were very real,” he says.
Being vegetarians didn’t make matters easier for them. But they still managed, somehow. “We had a tough time getting vegetarian food in Mongolia and China. Our pressure cooker and electric heater weren’t working in the high altitude — food just wasn’t getting cooked, so we had to survive on raw foods alone.”
Thankfully, being doctors, they were able to understand and treat their own altitude sickness. They remained in touch with their son throughout. “I have a government GPS system and cameras. We were communicating with our son in the US. He always had an idea of where we were, based on government satellites, which worked well even when we were without an internet connection,” he says.
Be it despite or because of the hardships that they had to face, the road trip seems to have made a lasting impact on the couple. “As far as we know, this is the first car to have left California and arrived in India with the flags of both countries on its bonnet,” Dr Rajesh says.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Viral and Trending / by Swati Sharma / June 14th, 2018
The Institute of Economic Studies (IES) has selected Chairman and Managing Director of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd N. Sridhar for its Outstanding Global Leadership Award in recognition of the latter’s leadership skills in improving the performance of the company over the last four years.
The award would be presented at the global economic summit to be held at Dubai on June 28. It is the second international award to be received by the top executive of the SCCL this year with the Enterprise Asia presenting him the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship award for 2017, according to officials.
In a letter sent to SCCL, Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Studies, Sangeetha Singh, stated that the award would also comprise a gold medal and invited Mr. Sridhar to attend 28th global economic summit to be held in Dubai. It said ‘IES confers the leadership award to financial experts, parliamentarians, financial research experts for India’s financial stability’.
Officials of the SCCL stated that the company has gained international recognition along with scaling up its performance during the last four years.
The company’s turnover has increased from ₹11.928 crore in 2013-14 to ₹22,667 crore in 2017-18.
Similarly, profit of the company has also gone up from ₹419 crore to ₹1,200 crore during the last four years, registering an increase of over 186%.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – June 12th, 2018
N.V.S. Ramaraju with V. Praneeth. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Telangana’s Vuppala Prraneeth is now World No. 1 in chess in the under-11 category, his coach N.V.S. Ramaraju, who is also credited with training chess Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, has revealed.
For someone known to be ‘very good’ in opening and middle-games, Prraneeth came under Mr. Ramaraju’s wing three years ago. “There is no doubt that he is a potential champion from the State in the days to come,” the proud coach, who runs Race Chess Academy in the city, tells The Hindu.
Prraneeth, whose parents hail from Nalgonda, has a creditable ELO2281 and was felicitated by the Sports Authority of Telangana State chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy last week.
Mr. Reddy assured complete support to the chess wizard in his pursuit of excellence at higher levels and hoped he would become a Grandmaster soon, given his consistency in tough events.
For the record, Prraneeth bagged bronze in the 201 South Asian championship and set a record of sorts scoring ELO22 points in the 14th Parshwanath International championship in Delhi. “There is obviously a lot of scope for improvement and the best part is that he is very young, sincere and puts in hours of hard work,” points out Mr. Ramaraju.
This Class 7 student of David Memorial High School is now dreaming of bigger things, including World championship titles in his age group as he embarks on what he feels will be a demanding journey.
“I am aware that I have to widen my opening game repertoire and also improve upon my end-game. But with Ramaraju sir taking care of every aspect of my game, I am confident of achieving bigger things,” says Prraneeth.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – June 11th, 2018
Constable now a key person in developing apps for State police
Thirty years ago, he worked in a grocery store in two shifts to meet the expenses for his intermediate studies.
Today, 46-year-old police constable P. Ramulu is winner of Mukhyamantri Sarvonnatha police medal 2018, the highest medal given to police personnel by the State Government on the eve of State Formation Day. From a Telugu-medium student in a government school to become a key person in developing applications for the police department, his has been an arduous yet fascinating journey.
Eldest of three sons of a labourer couple from Amangal of unified Mahbubnagar district, Ramulu came to Hyderabad for intermediate education. “I worked in a grocery store at Lakdikapul in morning and evening shifts and attended classes at Kachiguda Government Junior College,” he recalled.
Continuing his struggle, he joined B.Com course and got selected as a constable in 1991 after writing the first year exam. In his first posting at Santoshnagar, Ramulu created a record of sorts by executing hundreds of warrants pending for over four years in less than two months.
Noticing his writing skills, the officers shifted him as Assistant Station Writer, one who prepares case diaries, charge-sheets and investigation reports.
In 2001, the Government selected nearly 400 constables from Hyderabad police to work for e-Cop project, the first step towards computerisation of police department. After one-week training, 10 were selected out of the 400. Ramulu topped the ranking when four were selected from those 10. “With the help of other three colleagues, I installed 260 computer systems in all police stations of Hyderabad and other important offices,” the constable said with a sparkle in his eyes. Recognising the services of the self-motivated constable, senior officers sent him for additional training in Database System Administration, hardware and networking. In one training module lasting a year, he used to work at the institute from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., come back to office and work till late in the night. “Those long hours of work taught me a lot of new techniques and subjects. This helped me design latest applications of Hyderabad police like HAWKEYE and HYDCOP,” he said.
Balancing his training, work and family life, Ramulu completed his graduation which he had discontinued after joining the department. To hone his IT skills, he secured admission into M.Sc. (Information Technology) from Sikkim Manipal university and successfully completed it.
“The department has given to me so many opportunities, and I want to give my best,” he said, expressing joy over being selected for the prestigious medal.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Marri Ramu / Hyderabad – June 07th, 2018
Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) has been conferred with the ‘Telangana State Formation Day Award – 2018’ recognising the efforts and services to promote digital literacy among common people.
IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao presented the award during the annual report of the IT Department. TITA was awarded under the ‘NGO with Best Outreach’ category.
100K Digithon program, Telangana Yuva Nirmaan and Telangana Innovation & Incubation Centre (TIIC) are the few major initiatives of TITA. These have been appreciated and taken as basis for award by the government and this is the third consecutive award for TITA by the Government, said a press release from global president Sundeep Kumar Makthala.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – June 04th, 2018
The bio-fortified variety of pearl millet being grown at ICRISAT at Patancheru in Sangareddy district.
Iron and zinc levels increased using conventional breeding methods: scientist
Consuming supplementary nutrients for better health has become common. Making it more convenient, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has promoted project to include the micro-nutrients in millets.
The ICAR has set minimum levels of iron and zinc that have to be bred into the varieties of pearl millet (Bajra) available across the country. The scientists at a national-level workshop, part of the All-India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet, early this year decided a minimum of 4.2 milligrams of iron per 100 grams and zinc 3.2 milligrams per 100 grams. Any variety or hybrids to be sold to farmers by public or private seed producers should follow this micro-nutrient standards apart from giving a higher yield.
Dhanashakti — the first bio-fortified pearl millet variety released in 2014 — has been a grand success and is currently being cultivated in 65,000 hectares across the country and the seed is largely being supplied by Nirmal Seeds, Maharashtra State Seed Corporation and Karnataka State Seed Corporation. The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) here has recently developed four bio-fortified pearl millet hybrids with iron and zinc — the most deficient nutrients in current diets.
The hybrids are — AHB 1200 Fe, HHB 299, RHB 233 and HHB 311 — officially released in collaboration with agricultural universities of Maharashtra (VNMKV), Haryana (CCSHAU), Rajasthan (SKNAU).
These bio-fortified varieties and hybrids will contain 7.5 to 8.0 milligrams of iron per 100 grams and 3.5 to 4.5 milligrams of zinc per 100 grams of millet.
So, consumption of 200 g/day bio-fortified bajra-based foods will provide almost 70% of daily iron and zinc requirement in men and women, and 130 gram will give 100% requirement for children.
“It took more than five years to develop these varieties with active support of ICAR and State agricultural universities. These varieties of pearl millet will offer nutrient rich food to the consumers. Minimum nutrient level has been standardized after examining as many as 120 varieties bajra across the country, ICRISAT Senior Scientist Mahalingam Govindaraj told The Hindu.
Key vitamins
“Bio-fortification is conventional crop breeding to increase micro-nutrient levels. It helps to address preventable deficiencies of key vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc and vitamin A. This project was supported by HarvestPlus Challenge program of CGIAR,” he explained.
“Since the seeds have been developed in conventional breeding method there is no need to worry. This is an excellent move in the background of malnutrition levels in India – with over 58 % of children and 50 % of pregnant women being anaemic in India, further, 38 % of children under five are stunted,” he explained.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by R. Avadhani Pattancheru (Sangareddy Dt.) / June 05th, 2018
Columbia Journalism School announced on Monday that Raju Narisetti, a leading digital media executive and editor, will join the faculty as Professor of Professional Practice and also serve as the new director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism.
Mr. Narisetti is from Hyderabad and did his B.A. (Economics) from Osmania University and an MBA from IRMA in India. He also holds an M.A. from Indiana University, lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Kim Barrington Narisetti, and daughters Leila and Zola.
“I am delighted to join the journalism faculty and also lead the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship program at Columbia University,” he said in a release. He recently served as chief executive of Gizmodo Media Group and earlier, was News Corp’s senior vice president of strategy. He also spent 14 years at The Wall Street Journal, starting as a summer intern in 1991 and becoming an Editor too.
He also served as the managing editor for digital and new products at The Washington Post, has been Founder-Editor of Mint. He began his business journalism career at The Economic Times in New Delhi, and his U.S. journalism career at The Dayton Daily News.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – June 06th, 2018
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
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
