Category Archives: Records, All

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

A group that helps and heals

Records, All, Science & Technology

30-odd TS residents fighting a rare genetic condition bond on social media groups

People suffering from a rare genetic skin condition, which impairs ability to control body temperature, have formed a small, functional support group in the State that has grabbed global attention.

Called ichthyosis, it causes overproduction of skin cells resulting in development of scales across the body.

The name is derived from Greek for ‘fish-like skin’. In India, it affects one in 20,000 people and hence, is rare.

The support group, which began as an online collective for those with ichthyosis in India currently, includes people from South and West Asian countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Iran and Afghanistan. People from Hong Kong, United States and Sweden are also part of it.

The group connects people both on Facebook and WhatsApp, and has over 30 members at present.

Christina Raj (40), who has lived with the condition all her life, tells The Hindu, “Normal life is impossible. It (ichthyosis) is a challenge which makes you take bath at least three times a day. One has to wash the face at least once every hour to keep the scales from appearing and body temperature from rising.”

Christina started the WhatsApp group in 2017; the Facebook group was active since 2013. Apart from scaly skin, the condition lead to brittle bones that need constant care.

Fat medical bills

While there are both less severe and fatal types of ichthyosis, the support group mainly caters to people who suffer from the most acute form.

Eight persons from Hyderabad and surrounding districts including Nalgonda and Warangal are part of the group. The age group of those suffering from the condition is anywhere between 14 and 40 years.

Medical expenditure of each patient, who needs care in moderate to severe cases of ichthyosis, works out to ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 every month for medicines and lotions to save the skin from irretrievable dryness as well as injury.

Battling stigma

Sai Chaitanya (21) of Nalgonda, who also has ichthyosis, says he cannot afford treatment and suffers injuries each day.

Prolonging treatment makes the toes crooked and callused. If left untreated, it might lead to breaking of limb bones and joints .

In many cases, scaling of skin also leads to social boycott. “Children suffering from this condition are not admitted in schools because they injure easily and are teased by others who find them ‘different looking’. All of my schooling was done at home,” Ms. Raj says.

Currently, the group has a 14-year-old girl who studies in a private school in Secunderabad. Two teenage boys in Warangal also feature as members of the group.

Genetic testing must

Doctors who specialise in ichthyosis treatment said genetic testing and eradication is must of this condition, which is considered a severe disability in developed countries including the US.

“In India, we do not have a standardised genetic testing panel. A genetic panel will have to be developed by testing the genes of several people within the same population. The panel developed after continually testing the population can then be used as a standard with which conditions like ichthyosis can be compared. Developing genetic panels reduces costs for testing and treating people with genetic disorders,” Dr. Ayush Gupta, a Pune-based physician, who specialises in ichthyosis and dermatology tells The Hindu.

The online group is expected to approach the government to demand medical aid for those suffering from the condition.

“In countries like the US, the government provides a month’s kit of medicines, lotions and other essentials for patients. We would expect subsidy in medical care,” Ms. Raj adds.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Nikhila Henry / Hyderabad – March 17th, 2018

Hyderabad: Crafts, conquerors and continuum

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel
Glory atop Muhammad Saleem (in blue shirt) putting together pieces of the finial on top of the Hakims’ tomb. Serish Nanisetti

It’s the craftsmen who had kept alive the legacy of monuments

The dull rhythmic sound of a copper sheet being beaten into shape has a melody of its own. The tak-tak-tak-tak of the silver foil being beaten into slivers used in wrapping sweets and pans is predictable and heard often near Charminar and its surrounding areas. But that of copper sheets being beaten on the anvil has a different melody.

Near Chowk Masjid, the sound of copper and brass being beaten into shape and welded into vessels echoes over the urban cacophony, Azaan from various masjids and zipping vehicles. Inside an arched entrance is the small recessed room of Muhammad Saleem, one of the master craftsman and a coppersmith. “I have learnt it from my father who used to make similar objects. He used to make them in Basavakalyan. I have been making it here from the time I was a kid,” says Saleem.

He has made those tall tapering cones that adorn temples, dargahs, masjids and can be seen from great distances.

Presently, he is working on a finial; that involves cutting, beating and moulding into shape a copper sheet that weighs about 90 kilograms. “When I first mould it by hammering, it has a dull brown colour. I hammer it again to bring out the reddish shimmer which lasts longer if the copper is pure,” says Saleem about the 14-feet tall finial in 14 pieces that will be installed on Hakim’s Tomb at the Qutb Shahi Tombs Complex. The finials moulded by him have been installed in Bidar, Gulbarga, Bijapur, and many places in Telangana besides a host of sites in Hyderabad.

Incidentally, all the 14 pieces will not be crafted by him. Two of the pieces are from the old finial that used to exist in the place. So, what Saleem has made has to blend in with what was made centuries ago. In the setting sun as all the copper pieces are laid out on the ground in a row, the difference of finish on the objects could be easily detected. So can the similarity. While the pieces made by Saleem have a freshness with the beaten pattern, the older pieces look plain. “I can create a finish like that. But this will retain the pattern as well as shine for a longer period of time,” says Saleem.

It is craftsmen and metalworkers like this who have played a role in creating and preserving monuments. History is replete with examples of conquerors who carted away wealth after their successful endeavour.

When Timur conquered Delhi in late 14th Century, his assistants not only calculated the treasure they were taking with them but took away with them master craftsmen, on the orders of their master.

“I ordered that all the artisans and clever mechanics who were masters of their respective crafts should be selected from among the prisoners and set aside, and accordingly some thousands of craftsmen were bidden to await my command All these I distributed among the princes and amirs who were present, or who were officially engaged in other parts of my dominions. I had determined to build a Jami’ Masjid in Samarkand, the seat of my empire, which should be without a rival in any country; and for this reason I ordered that all builders and stone-masons should be set apart for my own especial service,” wrote Timur.

A similar thing happened when the Northern sultanates conquered the Southern kingdom of Vijayanagara in 1565. Thousands of master craftsmen rendered jobless shifted to the wealthier northern kingdoms resulting an efflorescence of architecture and craftsmanship including in Golconda that we can now see and admire.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Serish Nanisetti / February 24th, 2018

Gymnast has emotional reunion with family

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
World Cup gymnastics bronze medallist Aruna Reddy being greeted by her mother and sister at her residence in Hyderabad on Friday.

Aruna accorded ceremonial welcome by students of Gnana Prabha and Donald Memorial High School

It was an emotional reunion with her mother for World Cup gymnastics bronze medallist Aruna Reddy when she stepped into her residence on her return after three months, at Attapur here on Friday.

Even as the mother-daughter duo got teary-eyed, the first thing the latter did was to walk across the hall to garland the photo of her late father-cum-mentor Narayana Reddy.

“But for him, I would not have been in this position. I miss him badly in this moment of joy,” she said, choking with emotions.

She was accorded a touching ceremonial welcome by the students of Gnana Prabha and Donald Memorial High School.

In 2010, everything seemed to have come to a dead-end. Her father Narayana Reddy, who used to take her on his two-wheeler from the school to Lal Bahadur Stadium for training, passed away. Yet, Aruna showed great courage and did not let the trauma of losing her mentor deter her from pursuing gymnastics training.

“I felt the best tribute to him is to make it big in the sport. And this would not have been possible without the amazing support I got from my mother (Subadhara), elder sister Pavani and brother-in-law Janardhan Reddy. They are a huge support to me after my father’s demise,” said Aruna. “Aruna’s father was always more concerned about his daughter than himself. He never had food on time, was always eager to see that his daughter didn’t miss either the school or the training programme,” recalls Aruna’s mother. “He had the biggest impact on her,” she added. “Frankly, we were expecting an international medal, but not the World Cup bronze so soon,” she said.

For her part, Pavani said all their support would have come to nothing if Aruna had not backed it by her determination to do well. “The credit goes to her for pursuing gymnastics with the same passion even after our father’s death,” she said.

“There were moments of despair when she had a shoulder injury a few years ago. But Aruna was back with confidence. That was the critical phase when we were all tense,” she said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – March 02nd, 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

City to catch the eye of the world yet again

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

Telugu man in top Army post

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All
Appointment Lt Gen YVK Mohan

Lt. Gen. Yenduru Venkata Krishna Mohan, senior most serving Lieutenant General amongst three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) from both Telugu states, has been appointed him as General Officer Commanding 9 Corps.

Presently, he is serving as the Assistant Chief Integrated Defence Staff (Joint Operations) at HQ Integrated Defence Staff, New Delhi.

Conferred with the Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal, He is an alumnus of Korukonda Sainik School, Andhra Pradesh National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune and was commissioned into 7th Battalion of 11th Gorkha Rifles in 1981 and had served in varied terrains like Siachen Glacier and Indo-China border at Sikkim, a press release said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – January 10th, 2018

His voice, a capsule of tribal histories

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Ramachandraiah is probably the last such singer left in A.P. and Telangana

Sakine Ramachandraiah could easily have been awarded honorary doctorate by any university. An unlettered man from Koonavaram village of Manuguru mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Ramachandraiah has oral histories of the Koya tribe on the tip of his tongue.

One only has to mention the story to have it cascade effortlessly from his vocal chambers, in Telugu as well as Koya language.

Belonging to the ‘Doli’ sub-division of the Koya tribe, which has been traditionally ordained with the duty of reciting the tribe’s clan histories, Ramachandraiah is probably the last such singer left in the two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“Some times, I cross the State border to perform in Chhattisgarh, where people want the songs in Koya language,” Ramachandraiah says.

He sings at marriages, at funerals, and he always sings at the biennial Medaram Jathara also known as the ‘Sammakka Saralamma Jathara’, which is touted as the world’s largest repeat congregation of tribal communities. The Medaram Jathara is to be held from January 31 to February 3 this year, at Eturunagaram of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.

Gazette

The Doli community is described as ‘professional beggars’ among Koyas by the Godavari District Gazette of 1896. Though their duties are priest-like and along with ‘Oddis’— the superior priest class — they can be classified as the ‘literate’ in the tribe, their status is still considered ‘inferior’.

Doli men sing oral histories based on the ‘Padige’s or pictorial scrolls inherited by various communities over centuries.

“Earlier, Doli families used to live in a hamlet called ‘Soppala’.

Now, nobody lives there. Few are left who can recite oral histories as accurately as Ramachandraiah,” says Jayadhir Tirumala Rao, academic and researcher of tribal communities.

Prof. Tirumala Rao is spearheading a project to document the oral history of ‘Sammakka-Saralamma’ as told by Ramachandraiah, and he vouches that the story, if fleshed out from the myth it is enmeshed in, could substantially aid historical research.

“Sammakka-Saralamma story is about the war waged against the Kakatiya dynasty by tribal women who challenged king Prataparudra when he had levied tax on them for the tanks he had got constructed in their forests. The Koya tribe had then lived on hunting-gathering, and never cultivated any land.

So, the king sought to send outsiders into the forest for cultivation, which was the last straw on the camel’s back. This story comes out very clearly from the song recited by Ramachandraiah,” Prof. Tirumala Rao says.

Apart from ‘Sammakka-Saralamma’, the balladeer sings the stories of tribal warriors such as Gari Kamaraju, Pagididda Raju, Irama Raju, Gaadi Raju, Bapanamma, Musalamma, Nagulamma, Sadalamma and others. He also knows and recites the stories behind the endogamous tribal sub-divisions and their surnames. “Now, nobody wants to sing the stories. Even my own son refuses to follow the tradition,” Ramachandraiah laments.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Swathi Vadlamudi / January 10th, 2018

First Adivasi SI in Adilabad district

Business & Economy, Leaders, Records, All
Adilabad SP Vishnu S. Warrier with SI Mesram Chandrabhan (left) in Adilabad on Saturday. | Photo Credit: ByArrangement

He is a survivor of Naxalite ambush

Mesram Chandrabhan, a 53-year-old assistant sub inspector of Police working in Adilabad district, became the first Adivasi Sub Inspector in this district when he was given posting as SI Special Branch. Superintendent of Police Vishnu S. Warrier pinned the stars on his shoulder signifying the elevation to the post.

Chandrabhan belongs to the 1985 batch of constables and is winner of the Mukhya Mantri Shourya pathakam in 1987 for escaping with his life in an ambush by naxalites in the forest of Allampalli in Kadem mandal., now in Nirmal district, in which 10 policemen had died including two SIs.

The Pardhan Adivasi constable, who was injured in the ambush of a 25 strong police combing party in Allampalli on August 18, 1987, had played dead when the extremists came to ascertain if all the injured were dead. The deadly attack on policemen had jolted even the conscience of the then Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao who initiated certain measures for uplift of the Adivasis and also announced the gallantry award.

Chandrabhan was promoted as ASI in 2011 and had undergone training for SI post last year. The posting of the Adivasi officer gets significant in the face of the ongoing Adivasi-Lambada tiff.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Adilabad – January 06th, 2018